We share with pleasure this piece in our opinion very fitting, written by dr. Francis Santilli, in which we enter into the merits of the recently approved provision that allocates funds for the sterilization of the wild boar species experimentally, in order to contain the expansion of this species. A wicked measure this which, again in our opinion, has nothing to do with the control actions and good management of the territory that are put in place every day by hunters. The underlying problem always remains another.
Enjoy the reading!
FERTILITY CONTROL: A USEFUL AND EFFECTIVE STRATEGY TO REDUCE WILD BOAR POPULATIONS?
The amendment of the recent budget that allocates 500.000 € for a project to control the fertility of wild boar populations has understandably aroused surprise and perplexity among people interested in various ways in the problem of the overabundance of wild ungulates.
The project concerns the experimental introduction of a contraceptive vaccine developed by the NWRC, a research center of the United States Department of Agriculture, for the control of the white-tailed deer in urban areas. This vaccine stimulates the production of antibodies that bind to GnRH, a hormone that induces the release of sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone and testosterone). By binding to the GnRH these antibodies reduce the sexual activity of the animals they stay in for a long time a non-reproductive state (in wild boar up to 6 years old according to a recent study, (Massei et al 2013). The long period of non-reproduction is certainly the most interesting aspect of this technology to contain overabundant and problematic species such as wild boar. effectiveness in real conditions, other factors must also be taken into account:
The vaccine must be given as an injection for which animals must be captured, vaccinated, tagged and released.
To have an effect on demographics, a significant percentage of the population must be vaccinated, otherwise the decline in fertility is quickly compensated by reproduction of unvaccinated animals.
The population to be controlled must be "closed", that is, not in connection with neighboring populations that can immigrate to the area and nullify the effect of sterilization.
To evaluate the effects of this strategy, a computer simulation was also performed on the wild boar population of the Castelporziano estate. In summary, it has been observed that the control of fertility alone is not able to achieve a significant reduction in the population and that killing must always be used to keep wild boars below the carrying capacity of the environment (Croft et al. 2020 ).
In practice it can be said that the control of fertility in wild boar, with this type of technology, could only be a tool COMPLEMENTARY to reduce populations in some particular e LIMITED environmental and management situations, but it is very difficult to represent a useful strategy for addressing the problem of an overabundant and problematic species such as the wild boar at a national level.
References:
Massei Giovanna, Cowan Dave P., Coats Julia, Bellamy Fiona, Quy Roger, Pietravalle Stéphane, Brash Matthew, Miller Lowell A. (2012) Long-term effects of immunocontraception on wild boar fertility, physiology and behavior. Wildlife Research 39, 378-385.
Croft, S., Franzetti, B., Gill, R., & Massei, G. (2020). Too many wild boar? Modeling fertility control and culling to reduce wild boar numbers in isolated populations. PloS one, 15 (9), e0238429