Andrew Grayson
Bio 102 Lab
August 4th, 2015
Invasive Species: Wild Boar
Introduction: For my invasive species I decided to look at the Wild Boar. This animal stood out to me because I have always wanted to go boar hunting and doing more research, I discovered this species is very interesting. The Wild Boar is an animal that grows between 110-200 pounds and is typically brown or black and 1.8-3.6 feet big. This species is native to much of Eurasia, North Africa, and the Greater Sunda Islands. “Wild Boars are an Old World species and are not native to the Americas.” (History). This species originated from domestic stock brought to North America by early European explorers and settlers.
Ecological/Economic Impact When I first thought of …show more content…
“Agricultural producers in need of hog control programs must consider the value of the crops or livestock prone to damage and weigh those values against the cost of control.” (Texas). There are numerous ways that people have tried to control the population and eradicate the wild boars. Some have been managed by lethal and even non-lethal methods. The non-lethal methods of control include fencing to exclude them, using guard animals to protect livestock, and vaccinating animals to prevent disease spread. These are less expensive however they are not very effective. The lethal methods however are cheaper and less expensive. These include aerial hunting, hunting with dogs, cage traps, and snares. This species has natural predators when they are young because they are not strong enough to defend themselves. These include bobcats, coyotes, and wolves. Many have thought that using predators would help eradicate the boar population but the only predator that is native in their range is the grey wolf but the population is too limited to control the population. There are currently more than 5 million wild hogs in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”(Douglas). An effort to control this population would cost around 20 million dollars. Natural predators would have to be used while the boars are young because once they are fully grown they can take down most animals and even