When pigs fly: Reducing injury and flight response when capturing wild pigs

Lavelle, Michael J.; Snow, Nathan P.; Ellis, Christine; Halseth, Joseph M.; Glow, Michael P.; Sanders, Heather N.; VerCauteren, Kurt C.

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2019.03.014

Cited by 8 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The first requirement states that the victim is distressed and endangered by physical injury or death. Entrapped wild boars exhibited clear behavioural signs of distress, running in the cage and charging into the walls, possibly trying to escape, which resembles the signs of distress observed during trapping in other studies 43,44 . Wild boar are commonly trapped for management or research purposes.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Observation of rescue behaviour in wild boar (Sus scrofa)

Masilkova

Ježek

Silovský

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Here, we provide unique photo documentation and observational evidence of rescue behaviour described for the first time in wild boar. Rescue behaviour represents an extreme form of prosocial behaviour that has so far only been demonstrated in a few species. It refers to a situation when one individual acts to help another individual that finds itself in a dangerous or stressful situation and it is considered by some authors as a complex form of empathy. We documented a case in which an adult female wild boar manipulated wooden logs securing the door mechanism of a cage trap and released two entrapped young wild boars. The whole rescue was fast and particular behaviours were complex and precisely targeted, suggesting profound prosocial tendencies and exceptional problem-solving capacities in wild boar. The rescue behaviour might have been motivated by empathy because the rescuer female exhibited piloerection, a sign of distress, indicating an empathetic emotional state matching or understanding the victims. We discuss this rescue behaviour in the light of possible underlying motivators, including empathy, learning and social facilitation.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Observation of rescue behaviour in wild boar (Sus scrofa)

Masilkova

Ježek

Silovský

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We developed equipment and modified strategies to minimize adverse impacts on captured wild pigs, resulting in an accumulated injury rate below 4%. This injury rate was lower than our previously compiled injury rate associated with corral traps (12%; Lavelle et al 2019), and considerably lower than injury rates reported by others that sometimes approached 100% (Sweitzer et al 1997 a , Fenati et al 2008). Injuries to pigs in corral traps are likely related to the number of individuals in the trap, the size of the trap area relative to fight‐or‐flight responses, and the type of wire panels used to construct the traps.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 60%

“…Injuries to pigs in corral traps are likely related to the number of individuals in the trap, the size of the trap area relative to fight‐or‐flight responses, and the type of wire panels used to construct the traps. Each factor may contribute to animal fatigue, stress, and trauma, and can generate lengthy periods for darting (Lavelle et al 2019), which in turn affects the quality of chemical immobilization and increases the likelihood of deleterious post‐immobilization responses (e.g., capture myopathy, hyperthermia; Sweitzer et al 1997 a , Fenati et al 2008, Lavelle et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1). To reduce injury, we installed shrouds of shade cloth (24.4 m long by 1.3 m tall, 80% coverage shade cloth: Memphis Net and Twine Co. Inc., Memphis, TN, USA; Lavelle et al 2019) around the circumference of the corral traps prior to processing pigs. Capture and handling procedures were approved by the United States Department of Agriculture/Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service/Wildlife Services (USDA/APHIS/WS), National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC; QA‐2632, QA‐3046) and Texas A&M University‐Kingsville (2018‐12‐04/1435) Institutional Animal Care and Use committees.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Improved Strategies for Handling Entire Sounders of Wild Pigs

Lavelle

Snow

Ellis

et al. 2021

Wildlife Society Bulletin

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As wild pigs (Sus scrofa) expand throughout North America researchers are increasingly being tasked with trapping and marking entire sounders (family groups) to attach monitoring devices or other identifying markers to gather knowledge to inform management. Capture and marking procedures can be challenging, dangerous for both researchers and animals, and time consuming, particularly when handling sounders. We developed an integrated pig‐handling system to efficiently sort, weigh, chemically immobilize, and mark multiple wild pigs simultaneously in a controlled manner. To assess the functionality of the system, we evaluated 18 capture events in Texas, USA, from January 2018 to March 2019, where we marked 221 pigs of varied age classes and group sizes (2–19 animals). Using the pig‐handling system, we chemically immobilized 51 large (41–101 kg) pigs and manually restrained 170 smaller (<45 kg) pigs with injury rates below 4%. Average handling times for large pigs was 71.9 (SD = 25.7) min and <1 min for smaller ones. We released sounders intact and routinely recorded them together on motion‐activated cameras. Incorporating a handling system into wild pig research and management is encouraged to facilitate safe handling procedures for both pigs and handlers. © 2021 The Wildlife Society. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

show abstract

“…The more numerous myelinated axons in the human ulnar and median nerves are likely due to the demand of ne motor functions in the human hand, requiring more motor units. Large, spaced-out axons in the WMS nerves may be explained by the larger muscles they innervate, which are needed for ght-or-ight responses [35]. Due to limited access, we were only able to obtain one suprascapular nerve from a formalin-xed human cadaver rather than a fresh specimen, so no statistics were run for the histological analysis of this nerve.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brachial Plexus Anatomy of Miniature Swine Compared to Human

Hanna

Hellenbrand²,

Schomberg

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Brachial plexus injury (BPI) occurs when the brachial plexus is compressed, stretched, or avulsed. Although rodents are commonly used to study BPI, these models poorly mimic human BPI due to the discrepancy in size. The objective of this study was to compare the brachial plexus between human and Wisconsin Miniature SwineTM (WMSTM), which are approximately the weight of an average human (68–91 kg), to determine if swine would be a suitable model for studying BPI mechanisms and treatments. Methods: To analyze the gross anatomy, WMS brachial plexi were dissected both anteriorly and posteriorly. For histological analysis, sections from various nerves of human and WMS brachial plexi were fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde and then myelinated axons were labeled using 2% osmium tetroxide before being counter-stained with Masson’s Trichrome. Results: Gross anatomy revealed that the separation into 3 trunks and 3 cords is significantly less developed in the swine than in human. In swine, it takes the form of upper, middle, and lower systems with ventral and dorsal components. Histological results showed that despite the similarity in body size between the miniature swine model and humans, there was some discrepancy in nerve size and the number of the myelinated axons. The WMS had significantly fewer myelinated axons than humans in median (p = 0.0009), ulnar (p = 0.0001), and musculocutaneous nerves (p = 0.0451). The higher number of myelinated axons in these nerves for humans is expected, because there is a high demand of fine motor function in the human hand, with more motor units. Due to the stronger shoulder girdle muscles in WMS, the WMS suprascapular nerves were larger than in human. Conclusion: Overall, the WMS brachial plexus is similar in size and origin to human making them an excellent model to study BPI. Future studies analyzing the effects of BPI in WMS should be conducted.

show abstract

When pigs fly: Reducing injury and flight response when capturing wild pigs

Cited by 8 publications

References 17 publications

Observation of rescue behaviour in wild boar (Sus scrofa)

Observation of rescue behaviour in wild boar (Sus scrofa)

Improved Strategies for Handling Entire Sounders of Wild Pigs

Brachial Plexus Anatomy of Miniature Swine Compared to Human

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About