Center, Internet, Wildlife Damage Management
Human–Wildlife Interactions
Excluding Feral Swine, Javelinas, and Raccoons from Deer Bait Stations
Date of this Version
Spring 2012
Document Type
Article
Citation
Human–Wildlife Interactions (Spring 2012) 6(1): article 18
doi: 10.26077/6mr7-9v58
Special topic: Wildlife diseases
Abstract
In a campaign lasting from 1907 to the present, cattle ticks (Rhipicephalus [Boophilus] annulatus) and southern cattle ticks (R. [B.] microplus) collectively referred to as cattle fever ticks (CFT), were eradicated from areas in the United States. These ticks transmit Babesia bovis and B. bigemina, which are the causative agents in cattle of the potentially fatal protozoan disease commonly known as Texas fever, cattle fever, or bovine piroplasmosis. The ticks are a 1-host species that attach themselves to an individual host as larvae and feed on the host’s blood, molt to nymphs that feed again, and, subsequently, develop to adults. Adults mate on the host, then, females engorge with blood, detach, and drop to the ground where they lay a clutch of several thousand eggs. The eggs hatch into larvae that attach themselves to host animals, and the life cycle continues. These ticks are host-specific and will feed successfully only on large ruminants , including cattle, cervids, and equines (e.g., horses and mules). While individual ticks occasionally are found attached opportunistically to swine, canines, felines, ovines, caprines, and other nonruminants, they are unable to feed and develop sufficiently to produce gravid females. Therefore, the only hosts that were initially considered to be important in the tick eradication eff ort were cattle, horses, and mules. It was not until eradication efforts failed because of high densities of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in South Florida that deer were considered to be important alternative hosts. Cattle ticks were finally eradicated in Florida, but only after extensive depopulation of deer herds.
. . .
While the electrified exclusion fences described here are somewhat more expensive and require more effort to build and set up than nonelectrified fi eld fences or cattle-panel fences, the added cost and time is off set by the increased efficiency in excluding feral swine, javelinas, and raccoons and by maximizing the efficacious treatment of deer. The low height of the fence permits adult and yearling deer to enter and also facilitates the safe and unhindered entry and exit of persons servicing the deer treatment bait stations within. In conclusion, from February through July of 2011, no raccoons, feral swine, or javelinas were observed within either of the exclusion fences, and no damage was caused to either the exclusion fences or bait stations. Therefore, the demonstrated efficacy of this design thus far has been 100% effective.
Comments
United States government work. Public domain