School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Feb 5;16(2):e0246457. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246457. eCollection 2021.
Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are one of the most detrimental invasive mammals in the US. Lack of adequate population control has allowed pigs to become established across the landscape, causing significant ecological and economic damage. Given the need for additional tools for reducing wild pig populations, two toxicants, warfarin and sodium nitrite, are at the forefront of the discussion regarding future wild pig management. However, no research has examined stakeholders' perspectives towards the use of toxicants in wild pig management. Given the lack of knowledge, our goal was to determine stakeholders' perspectives towards the legal use of toxicants for managing wild pigs. We surveyed 1822 individuals from three stakeholder groups (hunters, farmers, and forestland owners) across Alabama during February 2018 using an online survey following the Tailored Design Method. All three stakeholder groups were generally supportive of toxicant use, though their views differed slightly by group. Furthermore, all stakeholder groups were supportive of toxicant purchasing and use regulations, while accidental water contamination, human health impact, and incorrect usage of a toxicant were stakeholders' greatest concerns. These results indicate that these groups would likely be in support of using toxicants for wild pig management in Alabama and could be a model for other states or locations. Consequently, these results have direct implications for shaping policy and possible use of toxicants as a future wild pig management tool.
野猪（Sus scrofa）是美国最具破坏性的入侵哺乳动物之一。由于缺乏有效的种群控制，野猪在美国各地大量繁殖，造成了严重的生态和经济损失。鉴于需要额外的工具来控制野猪数量，两种有毒物质——华法林和亚硝酸钠——成为了未来野猪管理的讨论焦点。然而，目前还没有研究探讨利益相关者对在野猪管理中使用有毒物质的看法。鉴于知识的缺乏，我们的目标是确定利益相关者对合法使用有毒物质来管理野猪的看法。我们在 2018 年 2 月采用 Tailored Design Method 对阿拉巴马州的三个利益相关者群体（猎人、农民和林地所有者）的 1822 人进行了在线调查。所有三个利益相关者群体普遍支持使用有毒物质，但他们的观点略有不同。此外，所有利益相关者群体都支持有毒物质的购买和使用法规，而意外水污染、人类健康影响和有毒物质的错误使用是利益相关者最大的担忧。这些结果表明，这些群体可能会支持在阿拉巴马州使用有毒物质来管理野猪，这也可能为其他州或地区提供借鉴。因此，这些结果直接影响到政策的制定和有毒物质作为未来野猪管理工具的可能使用。
