A dozen wild pigs tore up a California business park's lawn in days while hunting for grubs

Wild pigs have ripped up the landscaping at a South San Jose business park, leaving employees with a damaged green space and raising fresh worries about wildlife moving further into built-up areas.

What happened?

According to ABC7 News, footage recorded on Hellyer Drive on Monday showed about a dozen wild pigs at Power Integrations, among them two older mothers and several piglets, nosing through grassy areas and foraging in a parking lot. 

ABC7 News has now shared the footage here.

Workers said the animals' search for food left broad stretches of lawn torn up.

Employee Guy Clark told the outlet that the pigs seemed to be digging for insects beneath the ground, saying, "I think they're digging for grubs, big insects. And they really, really did a number here."

The city has dealt with wild pig problems before, ABC7 reported. The issue had gotten so severe that San Jose adopted a temporary ordinance in 2020 that allowed licensed trappers to kill the animals with a bow or a crossbow. 

Yet, the recent incident isn't that out of the ordinary. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which oversees wild pigs, typically sees more damage reports around this time of year because their food sources become scarcer.

Why does it matter?

Wild pigs are particularly destructive because they aggressively root through soil, damaging irrigation systems, weakening landscaping, creating tripping hazards, and making parking lots and walkways less safe.

But human activity may also be helping draw animals into places like this. Business parks, suburbs, and other developed areas often replace or fragment habitat while also providing irrigated grass and dependable food sources such as insects and grubs.

And when natural food becomes harder to find, it can make urban spaces more attractive. BBC Future has previously noted that many wildlife encounters are linked in part to human encroachment and the ways people reshape animals' food supplies and movement patterns.

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