Wild pigs' flesh turning neon blue in California: Authorities sounding the alarm
34 comments
·August 6, 2025ipsum2
For people who want a picture: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/wild-pigs-...
bombcar
Ok that is exactly what they said, blue, neon blue.
Wow - noticeable at least!
zahlman
I assumed that the blue colour would be from internal bleeding (venous blood being apparent at the skin level), but:
> Diphenadione is a vitamin K antagonist that has anticoagulant effects and is used as a rodenticide against rats, mice, voles, ground squirrels and other rodents. The chemical compound is an anti-coagulant with active half-life longer than warfarin and other synthetic 1,3-indandione anticoagulants.[3][4] ... Rat poisons with diphacinone are often dyed bright blue to signal toxicity.[8]
timcederman
Venous blood isn't blue.
DavidPeiffer
> Wow - noticeable at least!
The blue is sufficient but not necessary for the animal to be impacted by the poison. It is a very vibrant blue though, and anyone would be concerned if they opened an animal and saw that.
beefnugs
No good pictures, and bad quotes from the "expert" what kind of reporting is this?
wantlotsofcurry
wtf...
GeekyBear
Information on why some states and the Feds have chosen to attempt to eradicate feral pig populations:
> How are feral pigs destructive? Let us count the ways.
They are invasive and cause millions of dollars in agricultural damage each year, rooting and trampling through a wide variety of crops. They prey on everything from rodents, to deer, to endangered loggerhead sea turtles, threatening to reduce the diversity of native species. They disrupt habitats. They damage archaeological sites. They are capable of transmitting diseases to domestic animals and humans. In November, a woman died in Texas after being attacked by feral hogs—a very rare, but not unprecedented occurrence.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/feral-pigs-are-inv...
cheald
They also breed extraordinarily quickly. Females are capable of reproducing at only 3 months old, are fertile year round, have a gestation period of only 115 days, and produce litters of 4-6 per pregnancy. Even with control efforts, populations have been growing at a rate of ~20% annually.
mensetmanusman
Manufacturers add a bright blue triphenylmethane-type dye to baits so any subsequent observation of the carcass—can easily recognize contaminated tissue.
The dyes are large, planar aromatic molecules designed to resist rapid breakdown in the environment or the animal’s digestive tract.
xnx
Click bait.
The cause is known: "Blue tissue and flesh can be a sign of rodenticide ingestion, which can occur by eating bait – which often contains dye to identify them as poison."
lostlogin
The photo in the photo Independent link shows the colour being so vivid that flesh looks plastic. I learned something.
pempem
Would you prefer: "Wild pigs' flesh turning neon blue in California don't eat wild pig or other game meats you kill because they're eating the rodenticide people put out there - authorities are concerned people will not know and get sick"?
Seems wordy.
bikenaga
Looking at the title I can see your point - you're thinking something like "Rodenticide consumption turns pigs' flesh blue" would have been better? I try to stick with the original title, but since I had to edit it to make it fit anyway, I guess I could have made it less click-baity. Thanks for the suggestion.
null
mcphage
I’m not sure how reporting on a thing of concern that is happening counts as clickbait. That’s just… reporting.
perching_aix
The title makes it sound like the cause is unknown and so this is mysterious, a possible cause for panic. Hence why GP specifically leads with that the cause is actually known and even explained in the article...
baq
Title doesn’t say anything about whether the cause is known or isn’t.
7402
It's a pun. I think? The article references squirrel bait as the cause. "Bait" combined with an article that you click on. So ... "click" "bait." Get it?
The tipoff is that people usually write it as one word, "clickbait," when talking about a sensationalistic title designed to simulates clicks generating ad revenue.
OK, so maybe that person's joke wasn't so successful, but it seems like a fairly gentle attempt, which shouldn't be punished.
fallinghawks
Yes and no. OP's title says alarm: great fear and concern. However, there was reporting back in 2015 (https://gilroydispatch.com/blue-pig-shot-at-morgan-hill-ranc...) about this identical issue. The cause and the solution was known then, and even before.
mattmaroon
Tell me you didn’t read the article without telling me you didn’t read the article.
mc32
How can you make that claim if the poster is lifting a quote from the article in question itself!
tejohnso
>Blue tissue and flesh can be a sign of rodenticide ingestion, which can occur by eating bait – which often contain dye to identify them as poison
mondainx
Down for some green eggs and ham, but not blue ham..
kmeisthax
Casual reminder that rat poison does not selectively kill only rats. Even if it works as intended, the poisoned rats will get eaten and the poison will flow up the food chain.
atmavatar
Even worse: toxins can often become more concentrated as you move up a contaminated food chain.
CommenterPerson
Humph. Just another librul scare story. /s
vpribish
clickbait headline - could easily be made less offensive and more informative :
"Wild pig flesh turns neon blue after eating rodent poison"
California, Authorities, and Alarm are all unneeded
This was discovered while someone was "processing" a pig.
"Processing" usually means taking the meat out for consumption, the skin for leather, etc.
Any idea why the meat of a wild pig was being processed in CA? What would they have done with it?