U.S. Department of Agriculture: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

 

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Authors

Nathan P. Snow, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, ColoradoFollow
Benjamin Smith, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, Colorado
Michael J. Lavelle, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, ColoradoFollow
Michael P. Glow, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, Colorado
Kayleigh Chalkowski, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, Colorado
Bruce R. Leland, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, San Antonio, TexasFollow
Sarah Sherburne, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, Colorado
Justin W. Fischer, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, ColoradoFollow
Keely J. Kohen, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, Colorado
Seth M. Cook, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, Colorado
Hatton Smith, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, Colorado
Kurt C. VerCauteren, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, ColoradoFollow
Ryan S. Miller, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Veterinary Services, Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health, Fort Collins, ColoradoFollow
Kim M. Pepin, United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, ColoradoFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2024

Citation

Preventive Veterinary Medicine (2024) 233: 106347

doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2024.106347

Comments

United States government work

Abstract

Introductions of transboundary animal diseases (TADs) into free-ranging wildlife can be difficult to control and devastating for domestic livestock trade. Combating a new TAD introduction in wildlife with an emergency response requires quickly limiting spread of the disease by intensely removing wild animals within a contiguous area. In the case of African swine fever virus (ASFv) in wild pigs (Sus scrofa), which has been spreading in many regions of the world, there is little information on the time- and cost-efficiency of methods for intensively and consistently culling wild pigs and recovering carcasses in an emergency response scenario. We compared the efficiencies of aerial operations, trapping, experimental toxic baiting, and ground shooting in northcentral Texas, USA during two months in 2023. Culling and recovering carcasses of wild pigs averaged a rate of 0.15 wild pigs/ person hour and cost an average of $233.04/wild pig ($USD 2023) across all four methods. Aerial operations required the greatest initial investment but subsequently was the most time- and cost-efficient, costing an average of $7266 to reduce the population by a standard measure of 10 %, including recovering carcasses. Aerial operations required a ground crew of ~7 people/helicopter to recover carcasses. Costs for reducing the population of wild pigs using trapping were similar, although took 13.5 times longer to accomplish. In cases where carcass recovery and disposal are needed (e.g., response to ASFv), a benefit of trapping was immediate carcass recovery. Toxic baiting was less efficient because both culling and carcass recovery required substantial time. We culled very few wild pigs with ground shooting in this landscape. Our results provide insight on the efficiencies of each removal method. Strategically combining removal methods may increase overall efficiency. Overall, our findings inform the preparation of resources, personnel needs, and deployment readiness for TAD responses involving wild pigs.

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