The Effectiveness of Hunting Dogs for Removing Feral Pigs (Sus Scrofa).

Abstract

The effectiveness of a small team of hunting dogs for removing feral pigs was examined in relation to group size of feral pigs encountered and the population density of pigs being hunted. Hunting dogs were successful on 88% of occasions of catching or cornering solitary pigs when encountered. This rate of success rapidly declined as the group size of encountered pigs increased, with the mean maximum number of pigs that could be caught or cornered in any one encounter estimated to be about one pig per dog. The sex ratio of mature pigs obtained from a hunted sample showed a significant bias ( X*2 = 4.3,d.f. = 1, P< 0.05) towards catching more males (M: F = 1.6: 1.0). One team of hunting dogs removed 22 of an estimated 79 pigs inhabiting a 94-km*2 area at a rate of 0.6 pigs h-*1 in 35 h of hunting. It is concluded that hunting with dogs is an effective way for removing residual pigs after densities have been reduced by other forms of control.