Evaluation of common trap types for capturing wild pigs
[1];
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources University of Georgia Athens 30602 GA USA, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory University of Georgia P.O. Drawer E Aiken 29802 SC USA
- United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services 400 Northeast Drive Columbia 29203 SC USA
Abstract Wild pigs ( Sus scrofa ) are one of the most ecologically harmful invasive vertebrates globally. Due to their negative impacts, wild pig populations are managed via trapping, yet studies investigating various trap designs have been limited in duration, location, and number of trappers. Using data from professional trappers across the southeastern U.S., we evaluated the performance of 3 wild pig trap types (corral, drop, passive net), and the effect of forage season (barren, green‐up, masting) on trapping success. Specifically, we compared trap effectiveness (estimated proportion of targeted wild pigs caught per capture event), trap night effort (number of days to first catch), and the amount of bait and time used per individual take over the lifetime of each trap location across the 3 trap types and forage seasons. Across >850 capture events by 31 trappers, all 3 trap types evaluated were effective at capturing entire social groups of wild pigs. Few differences were observed among trap types, although drop traps in masting season captured a greater estimated proportion of wild pigs per capture event compared to other trap type‐season combinations. Our data also revealed that passive net traps required slightly more bait/wild pig captured than drop traps but there was no difference in the time/wild pig captured among traps. Our findings demonstrate that when operated by wildlife professionals, multiple designs of wild pig traps can be effective at removing targeted groups of wild pigs. Further, our results offer insights regarding the performance of wild pig trap types across seasons that can be used to inform wild pig trapping programs.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- EM0005228
- OSTI ID:
- 2504016
- Journal Information:
- Wildlife Society Bulletin, Journal Name: Wildlife Society Bulletin Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 49; ISSN 2328-5540
- Publisher:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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