Back to Search
Start Over
Wild pigs breach farm fence through harvest time in southern San Joaquin Valley
- Source :
- California Agriculture, Vol 72, Iss 02, Pp 120-126 (2018), White, Michael D; Kauffman, Kayla M; Lewis, Jesse S; & Miller, Ryan S. (2018). Wild pigs breach farm fence through harvest time in southern San Joaquin Valley. California Agriculture, 72(2). doi: 10.3733/ca.2018a0017. Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4g27q77g
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR), 2018.
-
Abstract
- Wild pigs cause around $1 billion of damage to agriculture in the United States each year — foraging on crops, breaking branches and vines, and damaging irrigation lines and fences — but little is known about how and when they access agricultural fields. We used wildlife camera traps to document and describe wild pig access to two fenced southern San Joaquin Valley farms. Pigs breached fences around agricultural fields, especially during the harvest period when crops were ripe, and almost exclusively at night, outside of the regulated, daytime recreational pig hunting period. GPS data from an adult boar revealed that pigs may travel long distances from wildlands to reach crops. The results of our case study suggest that increasing monitoring and maintenance of fences during the harvest season and removing pigs that have learned to access farms may help reduce pig damage to agricultural fields. The results also suggest a formal scientific investigation of risk factors and strategies to reduce wild pig damage is warranted.
- Subjects :
- Fence (finance)
Irrigation
Agroforestry
business.industry
Nuisance wildlife management
Foraging
lcsh:S
General Engineering
Pest control
Wildlife
lcsh:S1-972
agricultural impacts
wildlife camera trapping
lcsh:Agriculture
Geography
Agriculture
Sus scrofa, wild boars, crop damage, camera wildlife damage management, feral animals
lcsh:Agriculture (General)
San Joaquin
business
wildlife damage
Wild pigs
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00080845
- Volume :
- 72
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- California Agriculture
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....5f4f769ff5fa8da027855b5d7a19a808