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Scholarship Recipient

John Kinsey


John Kinsey

John Kinsey

The University of Texas at San Antonio

Year Received: 2017

Certified Wildlife Biologist and Ph.D. Candidate in Environmental Science and Engineering

Ecology and Management of Feral Swine in Relation to Bait Sites in the Edwards Plateau Ecoregion of Texas 

A sodium nitrite based toxicant, HOGGONE®, has been identified as a candidate for registration as a pesticide against feral swine in the United States. Though mortality rates of 95% exceeded goals for pen trials on Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Kerr Wildlife Management Area, there is little known about how ecological and behavioral factors may impact consumption of toxicants in a free range setting. In addition, a reliable population estimator, critical to monitoring population reduction efforts in un-marked populations, does not exist. The objectives of our research are 1) assess the efficacy of HOGGONE® and associated toxicant delivery system in a controlled free-range setting, 2) evaluate behavior and resource partitioning within and between sounders at bait stations, and 3) evaluate contemporary population estimators on known populations of feral swine at varying densities, both pre and post toxicant deployment. Results of this study will provide a better understanding of how HOGGONE® and associated species specific delivery devices will perform in a free-range setting and provide wildlife managers with a reliable method to estimate the size of feral swine populations in a given area. Such research is necessary to optimize the lethality and assess the success of toxicant deployment in free-range populations.

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