Determining Movements of Wild Hogs for Disease Modeling and Control Efforts in Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and Great Smoky

Clark, Joe

Objectives of this project are to 1) improve models and overall effectiveness of wild hog control in GRSM, and 2) provide baseline data for the development of a wild hog control strategy in BISO. The parks propose to improve the capabilities of the models to evaluate control efforts and predict consequences for spread of pseudorabies, as well as emerging foreign animal diseases by 1) initiating a radio-telemetry project to determine movement patterns of wild hogs in GRSM and BISO including their response to control/hunting efforts, and 2) conducting a stable isotope analysis to determine the scope and extent of illegal releases of feral hogs near GRSM. Information gained from the proposed projects would significantly improve the capabilities and usefulness of the models, and provide information related to wild hog control and law enforcement efforts. Information from these projects will also be used to revise the GRSM wild hog control guidelines (1993) and GRSM wild hog management folio, as well as the development of a wild hog control strategy and plan for BISO. A total of nine hogs were collared from April 2015 through January 2016, four males and five females. Average male weight is 90.2 kg and average female weight is 70 kg. All of the hogs collared were of adult age with the exception of one female which was a six-month-old, 27.2 kg juvenile. Five of the hogs were trapped, collared, and released within 16 km of the Cherokee Indian Reservation boundary. Of the remaining four hogs, one male was captured at Purchase Knob; one female at Hazel Creek; one female in Cataloochee Valley; and one female was captured in Cades Cove in Tennessee. One animal traveled over 10 km from the point of capture up to the AT. Hair, blood, ear-punch biopsies, and tooth samples have been collected from all collared hogs to be used for stable isotope analysis in an effort to confirm illegal hog releases into the Park.