Auburn University researchers examine impact of feral swine in Alabama to decrease devastation
By Teri Greene January 17, 2021
Auburn University graduate student Elizabeth Bradley collects a water sample that will be analyzed and sequenced to determine the host animal that contributed E. coli present in the stream. This is one of the methods that allows a research team to link the water quality of this system to the presence of feral swine. (Auburn University)
A new project co-led by Auburn University researchers addresses previously unexplored questions about the increasing number and distribution in Alabama of feral swine – animals that cause more than $50 million a year in damage to agriculture in the state. The research focuses on measuring the reduction in damage caused by the animals during the implementation of the Alabama Feral Swine Control Pilot Program (FSCP).
Auburn researchers study feral hog damage in Alabama
Updated Jan 19, 2021;
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Feral hogs cause more than $50 million in damages to Alabama farmers every year, but Auburn University researchers are looking for ways to help reduce that number.
Professors and graduate students at Auburn’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences secured a $450,000 grant from the Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee to remove hogs as well as monitor and prevent the damage that hogs do in Alabama, and show which strategies for hog control are most effective.
The project will involve using drones, water samples and logging observations to better document the full impacts of hogs in Alabama, from torn-up fields to degraded streams and creeks. Funding for the program came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Feral Swine Control Pilot Program that was established by the 2018 Farm Bill.