Control of U.S. Feral Swine Population Critical to ASF Preparedness

The Associate Director of the Swine Health Information Center suggests, as the global threat of African Swine Fever continues to expand, controlling the U.S. feral swine population will need to be a priority.

The Swine Health Information Center's global swine disease monitoring report, released as part of its April eNewsletter, updates the African Swine Fever situation.SHIC Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says ASF remains one of the predominant diseases being reported across all regions globally.

Quote-Dr. Lisa Becton-Swine Health Information Center:

There's still cases occurring in India, in Vietnam, in Indonesia but also in Europe both in domestic pigs and in wild boar populations.That is one of the components that the U.S. needs to monitor over time, is how other countries are dealing with their wild boar populations and how do they reduce the risk and the threat that those populations of animals pose to domestic farms.

The USDA Wildlife Services tracks that population.We know we've got a very large population, especially in the southeast and across Texas and some of the southern states, however a lot of our states in the U.S. are impacted by these populations of pigs.They're very prolific, they're very adaptable to different environments so many states are trying to develop plans and maintaining plans to keep these populations at bay.

This is a problem that USDA nationally is aware of and is trying to combat.But, as we look at our farms every day and travel it's always important to note, if you see feral pig activity to report that to your state animal health official and then they can figure out what additional steps are needed to control that population.It's something that's going to have to be considered for the U.S. and we just hope that we do not get ASF into this country because that just adds a whole other dimension of control.

The Swine Health Information Center's full domestic and global swine disease monitoring reports can be accessed through the SHIC website at swinehealth.org.