The Northern Feral Pig Project

Information, Networking, Methods ^*

Origins

The Northern Feral Pig Project has its roots in a project started by Rob Bruce, of the Manitoba Wildlife and Ecosystem Protection Branch, Philip Gipson, then Leader of the Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and Brad Tokaruk, of the Saskatchewan Fish and Wildlife Branch, who realized from their collective work that a dramatic change was occurring in feral pig distribution in North America. They conducted a questionnaire survey of professionals in wildlife, natural resources enforcement and agriculture to document the presence of feral pigs in Canada and the northern border states. Brian Knudsen, then with Manitoba Wildlife, and now operating Knudsen Wildlife Management Systems, joined their group during the study.

During the preparation of the manuscript, it became apparent that the expansion of feral pig range in North America was not only continuing, but accelerating. It appeared that because the issues of biology and management in northern feral pig range were so different from those in southern range, that it would be useful to have a project which emphasized the northern range, and that is now the Northern Feral Pig Project. The project is housed in Knudsen Wildlife Management Systems, but is intended to become a flexible network of projects and agencies.

Current Projects

1. Survey of the Status of Feral Pigs in Canada and the Northern States

Status: Completed and in final editing prior to submission for publication

As noted above, this is the project which initiated the Northern Feral Pig Project. Two documents have been prepared. One is an archival report which includes a complete set of narratives (i.e. raw data, as text) provided by contributors to the survey. The other is a more concise manuscript for journal submission. The survey received 527 responses from 850 mailed questionnaires, and documents 327 locations where feral pigs occurred.

2. Feral Pig Detection and Habitat Mapping in the Turtle Mountain Area of Manitoba

Status: Field work was conducted in August and September, 2008.
Completion Date: November, 2011

This project has two components. One is to test a method for detecting very low-density feral pig populations by observing rooting, wallowing and tracks around water bodies with helicopter-mounted video and still cameras. The other is to use these tools and a fuzzy expert system to map habitat which is vulnerable to exploitation and colonization by feral pigs.

A key justification for this study is the need for agriculture and wildlife management agencies to be able to detect feral pigs before populations become firmly established. Pig populations which are larger than several dozen animals have proven difficult to eradicate. This study tests the ability of airborne imaging tools to detect the characteristic and highly visible indicators of feral pig presence, primarily wallowing along watercourses and rooting in soft soil.

3. Mapping the Abundance and Distribution of Feral Pigs on the Great Plains

Status: The first field season (summer 2009) completed, analysis in progress. Funding proposals for subsequent seasons have been submitted.

This study was based in the Department of Natural Resources Management at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, with the intention of adding other agencies and individuals over time.

The work in 2009 was Part I of a two part project to assess populations of feral pigs and their invasion patterns in 20 counties on the Llano Estacado of Texas. The abundance of feral pigs is being mapped using the knowledge of local landowners, ranch managers, wildlife managers, and other knowledgable residents. Outputs will be a series of wildlife management maps for strategic planning for the control and optimum exploitation of feral pigs. The relevance to the Northern Feral Pig Project is that the tools developed here could be applied throughout the northern Great Plains as feral pig range expands and requires action.

It seems likely that time and distance will dictate that field work will have to be concentrated in the northern Great Plains, particularly in the Prairie Provinces. Collaboration with researchers in Saskatchewan is being investigated.

4. Ongoing Monitoring of the Status of Northern Feral Pig Populations

Status: Locations were visited in the summers of 2009 and 2010. Field trips to key locations will be ongoing.

Locations were visited in Manitoba, Quebec and Saskatchewan to make contact with local residents and acquire current reports of the absence or abundance of feral pigs that had been reported there.

For the details of these field trips, see Recent Projects

Future Projects

Projects will be carefully scoped, to tailor them to the specialties of potential cooperators, management agencies and funding sources. These project descriptions are currently being developed, falling into categories approximately as listed here:

• maintaining this web site to disseminate information
• monitoring changes in northern feral pig range
• testing detection methods
• circulating status notes on eradication projects
• modelling the pattern of feral pig expansion
• evaluating the risk of pig incursions into sensitive areas
• investigating new reports of feral pig presence
• conducting extension projects with game and fish groups on the dangers of feral pigs to agriculture and the environment
• cooperating in eradication programs
• providing summer jobs for wildlife students
• supervising graduate student projects on feral pig biology and management
• extending the range of cooperating agencies to parks, the military, and other potentially affected groups
• providing substantially enlarged information packages to news media, both local and regional

* Information, Networking, Methods

These three terms are taken from Leighton (2002),