Charles Jones is a Ph.D. Candidate in United States history who focuses on the American South. His particular areas of emphasis include agricultural, environmental, and rural history. His dissertation project uncovers the history of feral hogs in the South. Today, these animals are seen as an unwelcome invasive nuisance species. Jones contends that contemporary concerns over feral pigs' prevalence and their negative effects on flora and fauna are not products of their longstanding presence in the South. He argues though swine occupied southern landscapes since they were first introduced to North America by Europeans, hogs did not become an environmental and agricultural threat until wealthy southern sportsmen imported European wild boar to private game preserves in the early twentieth century. The project shows how these hunters, in conjunction with state wildlife agencies, commodified wild boar to boost hunting opportunities. In turn, they popularized wild hog as a game species among hunters of all economic classes through cultural productions marketed towards southern sportsmen, which created a demand for these animals throughout the region. With a confluence of unintentional escapes, intentional trapping and relocation by state agencies, and hunters' trapping and relocation of wild hogs, southern sportsmen created a thriving population of feral pigs in the American South.