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Specificity and success of oral-bait delivery to Eurasian wild boar in Mediterranean woodland habitats

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Abstract

Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa) is an important reservoir host for pathogens affecting humans and domestic animals. The eradication of these diseases may require the development of control strategies that reduce pathogen transmission between wildlife and domestic animals. Baiting for oral vaccine delivery is often considered for wildlife disease control. The effective and efficient field vaccination of wildlife requires species-specific baits as delivery vehicles for oral vaccines and designing appropriate baiting strategies. The objective of this study was to determine the proportion of young and adult wild boar and non-target animals that consumed baits containing a chemical marker, iophenoxic acid (IPA), in delivery trials conducted in summer in four different sites in the Mediterranean region of Spain where wild boar are abundant. The proportion of wild boar showing IPA markers in serum in autumn ranged from 11.5% to 56.4%. When attending to age classes, 12.6% to 72.7% of young individuals presented IPA. The results evidenced that the percent of wild boar that ingested the baits varied among study sites and age classes. Placing baits inside selective cages (for juveniles) and under heavy pavel stones (for adults) contributed to improve age specificity in bait consumption. We suggest ways for improving the age specificity of bait delivery systems used for young and adult wild boar.

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Acknowledgements

We thank many colleagues from IREC for their technical assistance. Caterina Falconi, Luca Carrel, Jesús Carrasco, and Mauricio Durán helped in the field. Pablo R. Camarero helped in the IPA determination. We thank Bernardo Herrera for his help during field work. We also thank the managers of Quintos de Mora, Rosario, and Riofrio public estates for allowing access to the study areas, and the guards for helping during field work. This study was supported by grants from Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA) (Project FAU 2006-00017-C03-01), Consejería de Educación y Ciencia, Junta de Comunidades de Castilla—La Mancha (JCCM) (projects PAI 06-0046-5285 and 07-0062-6611), EU FP7 Grant TB-STEP 212414; the Grupo Santander and the Fundación Marcelino Botín, Spain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC) (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n, 13005, Ciudad Real, Spain

    Cristina Ballesteros, Joaquín Vicente, Ricardo Carrasco-García, Rafael Mateo, José de la Fuente & Christian Gortázar

  2. Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Center of Veterinary Health Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA

    José de la Fuente

Authors
  1. Cristina Ballesteros
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  2. Joaquín Vicente
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  3. Ricardo Carrasco-García
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  4. Rafael Mateo
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  5. José de la Fuente
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  6. Christian Gortázar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristina Ballesteros.

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Communicated by H. Kierdorf

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Ballesteros, C., Vicente, J., Carrasco-García, R. et al. Specificity and success of oral-bait delivery to Eurasian wild boar in Mediterranean woodland habitats. Eur J Wildl Res 57, 749–757 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-010-0483-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-010-0483-9

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