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Response of white-tailed deer to removal of invasive wild pigs

Matthew McDonough , Robert Gitzen, Stephen Zenas, Mark Smith, Kurt VerCauteren, Steve Ditchkoff

Abstract

Context: With the range expansion of invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa) in North America during the last decades, there has been an increasing concern with how wild pigs affect native species. An abundance of research on their impacts has been through the lens of damage to anthropogenic resources and plant communities. However, quantitative research on how wild pigs affect populations of native animal species is an understudied topic. Aims: Our goal was to assess how wild pigs affect white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) at a population level by measuring changes in deer abundance as wild pigs are removed. White-tailed deer are an economically valuable game species in North America, and negative impacts of wild pigs on their populations could have trickle down impacts on conservation funding for all wildlife. Methods: On three treatment areas (3,407-5,531 ha) and one control area (2,510 ha), we used N-mixture models to compare data from camera trap surveys of white-tailed deer before and after wild pigs were removed from treatment areas. Key Results: We removed 1,851 pigs from the treatment sites between May 2019 and March 2021. We found that wild pigs did not significantly affect white-tailed deer abundance, but that white-tailed deer were 1.12 (1.02-1.23; 95% CL) times as likely to be detected when the number of pigs removed was equal to our baseline population estimates compared to when no pigs were removed. While results from similar analyses on separate age/sex classes of white-tailed deer exhibited similar results, analyses of impacts on immature males differed. Conclusions: Our overall results are congruent with other research that suggests wild pigs affect white-tailed deer behavior at a local scale, though eliminating pigs from an area does not appear to quickly lead to increased abundance of deer.

WR23097  Accepted 19 September 2024

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