Several Silicon Valley businesses were flabbergasted after discovering their landscaping completely destroyed, but the four-legged culprits soon revealed themselves. It was a group, or a sounding, of feral pigs!
Recently, food has become scarce, and families of pigs have been tearing at grasses, shrubs, and anything else they can get their hooves on. In just a few days, they’ve nearly demolished a South San Jose business park’s landscaping, but the wild pigs in San Jose have also been giving residents an opportunity to witness and talk about the consequences of building over wild animals’ homes.
What an adorable little family! It’s heartbreaking to think that the wild animals are having trouble finding food, and it makes it worse to consider how unwelcome they are in an area that was once their home. Business owners say the pigs have torn up their landscaping in a matter of days, but many animal lovers believe this is a small price to pay for the pigs’ survival.
“Because all their natural habitat is getting torn down for buildings and apartments. Where else are they supposed to go?” asked @shesfromthesea. If you ask me, we should be making room for them—not the other way around!
Journalists from @abc7newsbayarea had no trouble finding the hungry pigs and piglets at a South San Jose business park, and neither do Silicon Valley residents. @Naideeah commented, “LOL I’ve seen that sounder! They used to trail the back of my apartment complex.”
Wild Pigs in San Jose
The feral pigs may be struggling to find shelter and resources, especially this time of year, but they’ve been here even longer than humans have. I didn’t realize how large San Jose was until I moved there (it’s the third-largest city in California), or just how much of it was made of hills and farmland. So much of the city used to belong to wild animals, but now the land is being used for housing and business developments.
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Santa Clara County Parks have been managing feral pig populations since 1994, but these Bay Area animals aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. They’re still common to see on the outskirts of the city, and I hope that never changes.
This story was originally published by PetHelpful on Jul 23, 2026, where it first appeared in the Pet News section. Add PetHelpful as a Preferred Source by clicking here.