Larry Lint, owner of The Pig Farm on Foxburg Road in Allegheny Township, shows where his fence was cut open and he lost boars and whitetail deer around the first of the new year.

ALLEGHENY TWP — The Pennsylvania Game Commission is working with federal wildlife officials to find and kill dozens of farm-raised whitetail deer and about 150 boars that escaped from a hunting business this month.

Larry Lint, who owns The Pig Farm on Foxburg Road, said the escapes came after someone cut six holes in fences at the farm, which provides guided hunts for whitetail deer, boar and other animals.

Game commission officer Regis Senko said state officials are working with the USDA's Wildlife Services on “active efforts” to both trap the animals and shoot them. He said those operations have included both aerial and foot searches of the area around The Pig Farm, but that to his knowledge only a single, antlerless deer had been killed so far.

That deer was killed by a hunter during the state's flintlock season, Senko said. He said state officials continue to search for the animals and will kill them on sight.

“If we see those animals, we will put them down,' Senko said. “Our concern is that you have the potential for disease.”

Senko said the commission's biggest concern is chronic wasting disease, which has been found in some captive deer herds, spreading to the state's wild deer population.

Lint has said that as many as 66 farm-raised whitetail deer remain on the loose after his farm's fences were cut on New Year's Eve. Lint said he continues to try and recapture the animals.

The vandalism, which the state police say they are investigating as criminal mischief, also released about 150 boars from the farm. Lint said he has recaptured about 75 of those.

Senko said state and federal officials are trying to both trap and shoot the boars, amid concerns that the non-native animals will destroy natural habitat.

“With pigs in particular, the concern is habitat destruction,” Senko said. “That's not something we want to see perpetuated here in the commonwealth.”

Normally the commission allows licensed hunters to help eradicate feral swine. But after the escape from The Pig Farm, the commission revoked permission to shoot the animals in Butler County.

In a Jan. 8 announcement, state officials shut down temporarily feral swine hunting in the county. Senko said the reason behind the revocation is to keep the animals from fleeing the area because of increased hunting activity.

He said it was unclear how long officials would continue to pursue the escaped animals.

“I think we'll probably be guided by what kind of success we're having,” he said.