Dealing With Wild Pig Depredation In California: The Strategic Plan

Authors

Douglas Updike, California Department of Fish & Game
John Waithman, California Department of Fish & Game

Date of this Version

1996

Document Type

Article

Citation

Published in Proceedings: Seventeenth Vertebrate Pest Conference … 1996, ed. Robert M. Timm & A. Charles Crabb (University of California, Davis, 1996).

Comments

Copyright © 1996 (where applicable) by the Vertebrate Pest Council of the Vertebrate Pest Conference. Used by permission.

Abstract

The Wild Pig Management Plan is required by Fish and Game Code Section 4651. It is intended to be a strategic plan for dealing with wild pigs for the five-year period 1995-2000. The plan is a dynamic document that will be reviewed and updated at least every five years.

As prescribed by law, the plan contains information related to the status and trend of wild pig populations, and describes management units established by the Department to address regional needs and opportunities. Those needs include alleviating damage to property, protecting sensitive natural resources, and providing recreational hunting where feasible. Opportunities include using the demand for recreational hunting of wild pigs as a practical and cost-effective means of controlling wild pigs and their impact on property and natural resources. In addition, there are opportunities for cooperation between public agencies, conservation organizations, and private landowners that use incentives to manage wild pigs in conjunction with primary land use objectives.

The plan invites participation from the public and incorporates the results of surveys and applied research to achieve stated objectives. The plan has seven objectives as follows:

1) Study the distribution and density of wild pigs in California.
2) Reduce wild pig depredation on private land.
3) Increase hunting opportunities.
4) Determine the impact of wild pigs on native communities and agricultural areas.
5) Provide public information.
6) Monitor disease, both endemic and exotic, in the wild pig population.
7) Investigate the economic impact of wild pigs.

This paper will only concentrate on that aspect of the plan that deals with reducing wild pig depredation on private land.