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1 February 2010 The Boar-Operated-System: a Novel Method to Deliver Baits to Wild Pigs
Giovanna Massei, Julia Coats, Roger Quy, Kate Storer, Dave P. Cowan
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Abstract

Bait-delivered pharmaceuticals, increasingly used to manage populations of wild boar (Sus scrofa) and feral pigs, may be ingested by nontarget species. Species-specificity could be achieved through a delivery system. We designed the BOS™ (Boar-Operated-System) as a device to deliver baits to wild pigs. The BOS™ consists of a metal pole onto which a round perforated base is attached. A metal cone with a wide rim slides up and down the pole and fully encloses the base onto which the baits are placed. We conducted a pilot, captive trial and found that captive wild boar fed from the BOS™ either directly, by lifting the cone, or indirectly, by feeding once another animal had lifted the cone. Thus, we tested whether free-living wild boar fed from the BOS™ and whether the BOS™ could prevent bait uptake by nontarget species. We observed that free-living wild boar fed regularly from the BOS™ and that the device successfully prevented bait uptake by nontarget species. The BOS™ should be trialed more extensively to confirm its effectiveness and species-specificity to distribute pharmaceuticals to wild suids. If successful, the BOS™ could be used to deliver vaccines in disease control programs as well as contraceptives to manage overabundant populations of wild suids.

Giovanna Massei, Julia Coats, Roger Quy, Kate Storer, and Dave P. Cowan "The Boar-Operated-System: a Novel Method to Deliver Baits to Wild Pigs," Journal of Wildlife Management 74(2), 333-336, (1 February 2010). https://doi.org/10.2193/2008-489
Published: 1 February 2010
JOURNAL ARTICLE
4 PAGES

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KEYWORDS
baits
delivery systems
feral pigs
nontarget species
Sus scrofa
wild boar
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