The current feral swine population in the United States may exceed six million individuals across at least 35 states. The annual damage and control costs are more than $1.5 billion, and $150 million for Georgia alone in 2014. Feral swine negatively impact native wildlife, pollute water bodies, and damage habitat and human structures. They also impact humans by consuming and trampling crops, along with spreading diseases to livestock and humans.
Image 1: One of the trail camera photos from the research study which captured a collared pig.
Controlling feral swine is difficult and often requires trapping, aerial gunning, and targeted removal. A new approach for reducing the population is to mark one individual from a sounder of pigs, the Judas pig, and allow it to locate other sounders for future removal. Few studies have been conducted on this method, the Judas technique, and have not determined which pig, by sex and age, is the most efficient in locating other pigs. Faith Kruis, a wildlife ecology graduate student from the University of Georgia, is working on a study with the Jones Center at Ichauway to determine which wild pig is the most effective Judas pig. This is done by determining how soon the Judas pig locates other pigs after being released, how often it is seen with other pigs, and how many pigs it is seen with at a time.
The second component of the study focuses on feral swine resource selection within an agriculturally dominated landscape. Previous studies have focused on nation-wide trends or low agricultural areas. Therefore, Faith focuses on areas of southwest Georgia that are dominated by agricultural fields and experiences seasonal growing periods fluctuating in daily temperature. The goal of the study is to determine how these characteristics influence feral swine’s resource selection and to establish effective feral swine management techniques.
The Judas technique is an understudied removal method for feral swine. More research may need to be conducted prior to landowners implementing it. The results of this study would give researchers an idea as to which feral swine, once trapped, should be used as a Judas pig, how long after it is released should it locate other pigs, how often should it be found with other pigs, and how many pigs, on average, should it be seen with.
Analyzing how feral swine select resources in an agriculturally dominated landscape can greatly benefit management practices in reducing the population, along with the damage they cause. This can include better predictions on the location of wild pigs during the day versus the night during the varying seasons or knowing how different temperatures may influence where they reside throughout the day.
For this study, GPS tracking of Judas pigs began in the spring of 2021 and has resulted in 17 wild pigs collared thus far. These include nine females released at their trap site, three females relocated within the property they were trapped on, and five males released at their trap site. Camera trapping began in the fall of 2021 to observe when the Judas pigs were with other pigs. Data collected thus far has found no significant difference between Judas pig types (subadult female or male, released at trap site or relocated within trapped property) and the length of time between collaring and finding other pigs, the number of pigs the Judas pig is seen with at a time, and how frequent the Judas pig is with other pigs. Data collection will continue through the spring of 2023 to increase the sample size, which may lead to a change in the results.
To learn more about the Jones Center, visit their website. To contact the Georgia Feral Swine Partnership or to learn more information, visit Georgia Feral Swine. The Albany Area Feral Swine Control and Eradication Pilot Project is led by the Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District.
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement number NR204310XXXXG001.