Researchers look for answers to difficult wild hog issues

For ranchers who struggle with invasive feral hogs tearing up their pastures and possibly spreading diseases, the scientific community is working on the problem. One of those scientists is Australian and wildlife biologist Raoul Boughton, who has been working at Archbold Biological Station in Venus since 2000. Boughton and Archbold are working in conjunction with researchers at the University of Florida to understand the behavior of feral hogs, an invasive species that was probably introduced by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. Boughton, whose official title is program director of disease ecology, and his colleagues placed GPS collars onto 10 sows and 10 boars, then collected and analyzed the data. "We wanted to understand their home range, how far do they go, the intensity of use in their general areas," said Boughton. As many ranchers can attest, feral hogs can be hard to control because they are quite proficient at digging under fences. If ranchers start hunting them in a certain area, the smart pigs simply choose a different path. They are also well-known for digging up pasture areas with their powerful snouts. As a secondary area of study, Boughton and other researchers are looking at the negative effects of these rooting behaviors on grazing areas. A third consideration is how much feed the pigs may be consuming. Using cameras, researchers studied how often feral hogs visited feeding troughs. And they already have some answers: "Of the visits of cattle and swine to molasses, one-fifth of that, or 20 percent, are made by feral swine," Boughton stated. Ranchers might be surprised to learn that one in five visits to their molasses feeding troughs are made by wild pigs and not cows. For a rancher putting out hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of feed per year, that's a lot of stolen food...more