Are oestrous feral pigs, Sus scrofa, useful as trapping lures?
J. C. McIlroy A B and E. J. Gifford AA CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, GPO Box 284, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
B Corresponding author. Present address: 38 Hempleman Drive, Akaroa 8161, New Zealand.
Wildlife Research 32(7) 605-608 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR05006
Submitted: 18 January 2005 Accepted: 24 August 2005 Published: 24 November 2005
Abstract
Eight feral pigs (two boars, four sows and two piglets) were caught in traps using oestrous sows as lures during a control program on a remnant pig population in part of Namadgi National Park during spring, 1990. The program was mostly based on aerial baiting with warfarin. No pigs were caught in traps containing anoestrous sows or in traps containing bait only. Seven unmarked pigs (caught seven days after the cessation of baiting) did not appear to have eaten any warfarin bait. In an earlier pilot trial, two boars were caught at a trap containing an oestrous sow, one of these again in a trap baited only with fermented grain, but no pigs were caught at a trap containing an anoestrous sow. Although not cost-effective as a general technique, this method could be useful in specific circumstances, such as eradication campaigns on islands, if the last few pigs are, or have become bait shy, or are impossible to cull by other methods.
Acknowledgments
The research was partly funded through the Wildlife Exotic Disease Preparedness Program of the Bureau of Resource Sciences, Canberra. We are grateful for the assistance provided by the Australian Capital Territory Parks and Conservation Service, particularly staff at Namadgi National Park. The project was carried out before the establishment of an Animal Ethics Committee at the then CSIRO Division of Wildlife Research.
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