RED HOUSE, N.Y. -- Officials at a state park in western New York say they've confirmed for the first time that feral pigs are in the park.

A road crew at Allegany State Park spotted wild pigs last week and two visitors snapped a photograph of three of the animals a day earlier near a Pennsylvania entrance to the park, located in a rugged area 50 miles south of Buffalo.

Park Manager Brad Whitcomb says the state Department of Environmental Conservation is concerned wild hogs could gain a foothold in the 65,000-acre park and damage the local ecosystem the way they have in parts of the South.

Mr. Whitcomb says he isn't aware of any reports of wild pigs in the Allegheny National Forest in neighboring Pennsylvania.

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