African Swine Fever

Sol the Agriculture Detection Dog: A U.S. Hero

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 16:33:12 GMT

Although he’s motivated by treats and can charm just about anyone, don’t let this dog fool you. Sol is a highly driven beagle who plays a critical role in protecting U.S. agriculture. He is part of the Beagle Brigade and works alongside Martin Schultz, an agriculture specialist for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“Our mission is to safeguard American agriculture, and we do so by identifying the various fruits, vegetables and meats that people are bringing into the country,” Schultz explains. “We employ dogs that can track scents and have them walk around, and then that helps us to identify more of the potential pathways that the pathogens and pests could enter the country via the passenger baggage environment.”

Every day at the Chicago O’Hare Airport, detector dogs and K-9 handlers work hard to protect the U.S. pork industry and all of agriculture from threats.

“The U.S. pork export industry right now is No. 1 or No. 2 in the world. The last number I looked at for last year was $7.7 billion worth of income generated for the country. And if Sol and I let in some pork that has African swine fever, it could devastate pork’s export industry – and that’s a lot of money lost.”

Keep Out Dangerous Threats to Agriculture

One little treat is just the motivation Sol needs to help protect and safeguard the country, Schultz says. Sol is trained to be able to identify certain scents of prohibited agricultural products.

“The bigger dogs work in the bigger environments because they’re a little bit harder and it’s safer for the big dogs there. The beagles work here in the passenger environment because they appear a little bit less threatening than some of the other large breeds,” Schultz said. “The beagles also have an amazing ability to differentiate the various scents that we’re looking for.”

On a typical day, Sol spends his time sniffing the bags, passenger’s backpacks, purses and checked luggage. Schultz watches for changes in Sol’s behavior. When Sol gets excited about something, Schultz then identifies which bag might contain the prohibited item.

“If he does determine that a scent that he has trained on is there, then he is trained to sit and that’s his official alert. It shocks me every day just how well he is able to track a scent throughout the hall,” Schultz adds. “We’ll be working a carousel on one side of the hall and he’ll pull me over to the other side of the hall just to find a couple of apples or bananas that he is interested in.”

Sol tracks scents throughout the entirety of the corridor, Schultz says. A significant portion of the agricultural products that come into the country does so through the passenger baggage environment.

“Everybody thinks one apple or one banana by itself and one passenger isn’t that significant of a deal. However, when every passenger on a 300-passenger flight has two apples and two bananas, that’s a lot of apples and bananas,” Schultz adds.

One of this team’s bigger interceptions recently was finding 10 kilograms of pork coming in from Turkey.

“The lady just wanted to bring some sausages for her family here from the homeland,” he says.

Every day the dogs find sandwiches from the airplanes, too. People don’t realize there is anything wrong with bringing the sandwich that they got on the airplane, he explains. However, the meat in the sandwich came from the country where the flight originated, and that meat can’t be verified to meet import standards set by the USDA.

Sol and Schultz are a newer handler team – they are the youngest team at the Port of Chicago. He says they haven’t had the chance to build up as impressive of a seizure list or an interception list as some of the other more experienced handlers, but they are working on it.

“The Chicago team is the No.1 team in the nation for agriculture interceptions and agriculture dogs. We have a number of the top handlers and K-9s in the nation for agriculture detection,” Schultz says. “It makes me realize that I have a lot of work to do for me and this young man [Sol] to get up to the level of proficiency that they have.”

Andrew Bailey, Science & Technology, Legal Counsel for the National Pork Producers Council had the opportunity to watch the Beagle Brigade in action last winter and was amazed by the great work the dogs do.

“They had a table full of this enormous number of intercepted meat, vegetables, fruits and things wrapped up,” Bailey recalls. “I was like, ‘How many days of product is this worth?’ The agent told me it was just what they had discovered since they opened. It was only 10 a.m. at the time and they only had two dogs working. It was amazing – the raw amount of work that these dogs do and how important it is.”

NPPC continues to work hard to make sure the Beagle Brigade and detector dog program has the money and authorization to be “fully staffed.”

“We talk about protection zones, regionalization, traceability and response, but really the priority is to harden the border and make sure it never gets here,” Bailey says.

Training Top Detector Dogs

USDA sources the dogs for the program and do the initial training at the National Detection Dog Training Facility in Newnan, Ga. Any additional training that needs to be done, such as obedience or any new odors is all handled by CBP in the field, along with the handler and our canine trainers.

The dogs go through an initial medical and temperament screening. Schultz says less than 40% of the dogs pass that initial portion and an even smaller number make it through the certification process of learning the odors.

Sol received training at the National Detection Dog Training Facility on five key odors, including apples, citrus, mango, beef and pork. Once he was certified to be able to detect those items, he got put into a class. Schultz then went down as a handler for two months of training to learn how to take care of the dog, to identify what his needs are, figure out his alerts and learn the various commands.

“It took four months altogether for Sol and two months for myself for us to be trained and certified to be a team,” Schultz says. “However, the training never stops. There’s obviously more fruits and vegetables and meats coming into the port than the odors he is originally certified for. The idea is to get him to start associating the various fresh elements of fruits and vegetables or the spices used to cook the meats and whatnot to get him to start learning some of the other fruits and vegetables that come into the port.”

Sol is a smart dog and taught himself bananas in less than a week, Schultz adds.

“We want him to continue to associate new smells of what he considers a fresh item, and then he gets mouthfuls of treats for it. So, if he smells fresh apples, he’ll alert to it. Then he’ll be sniffing another bag and he’ll say, ‘This isn’t a fresh apple, but it smells similar to a fresh something.’ So then he’ll alert and he’ll give it a shot. And if he’s right, and it’s the first time that he’s found something, I give him a whole mouthful of treats. And then he associates that as a positive interaction and he now can get more mouthfuls of treats for looking around and trying to identify more items that appear fresh or smell fresh to him.”

All of the detection dogs employed by CBP stay at a kennel facility with all the other dogs. This allows them to become one big pack and they’re happy together, Schultz says.

“Now, personally, I’m not happy that he doesn’t get to come home with me, but it makes sense to me that he doesn’t because he would then be doing his job at my house and wondering why he’s not getting paid for detecting the items that he is paid to detect. That could give him some confusion or anxiety about doing it here at the airport,” Schultz says.

In exchange for his hard work every day, Sol receives his pay in treats – lots and lots of treats.

“Each dog is unique in what it thinks is a more high value reward,” Schultz says. “We try to provide them with the highest value rewards that we can so the dog continues to be as motivated as he can be to work and to identify the items, because to him he’s just playing a game, getting treats.”

USDA Addressing Ag Adversity with Additional $3 Billion

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 02:56:26 GMT

In a speech today at Colorado State University’s Salazar Center’s Virtual International Symposium of Conservation Impact, United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced plans for funding $500 million to both African swine fever (ASF) prevention and relief from agricultural market disruption.

Secretary Vilsack shares how the Department of Agriculture, at President Biden’s discretion, intends to help agricultural America face the economic troubles posed by the pandemic and climate change.

Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funding will be used as a tool to help the Dominican Republic and Haiti minimize the risk of spreading ASF.

“With this action, we intend to do everything we can to protect our trade, our economy, our pork industry and the jobs connected to it,” says Vilsack. “We’ll use these resources to support a robust expansion and coordination or monitoring, surveillance, prevention, quarantining and other activities to help eliminate risk while also shoring-up our efforts here in the US to prevent the disease from getting to the mainland.”

Secretary Vilsack says the goal is to keep producers on the farm rather than having to sell out.

“We’ll also tap the CCC to work with our traditional disaster programs to help farmers repair storm damage, reduce the high cost of feed, and pay down the high cost of transportation many livestock producers are now incurring to haul feed and water to their operations.

The CCC would also be at the center of a proposed Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry Partnership Initiative that Vilsack announced during the press conference. If advanced, the initiative would fund pilot project including farmers, ranchers and foresters that, “provide incentives to implement climate smart conservation practices on working lands and to quantify and monitor the carbon and greenhouse gas benefits associated with those practices.”

Data and learning from those pilots could support future development of new markets in which farmers and foresters could benefit financially in exchange for commodities produced while delivering ecosystem services.

“The pilots will invest in science, monitoring and verification to measure the benefits of these climate smart practices,” Vilsack explained.

According to Secretary Vilsack, the pandemic and climate-related events exposed our overall food system as highly consolidated and fragile by producing issues ranging from ship ports all the way to school lunchrooms.

“American producers are frustrated by the fact that empty container ships are leaving our ports while agricultural products sit on the dock, waiting to leave our shores,” says Vilsack. “While many school districts across the US are now being told that shortages exist in the food normally ordered for school meals.”

The USDA intends to answer port and public-school adversity with $1.5 billion in funding.

Destructive, Formidable, Invasive: How is the U.S. Managing the Feral Hog Population?

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 14:51:43 GMT

With a population of over 6 million nationwide and causing up to $2.5 billion in damage annually to crops, forestry, livestock and pastures, the feral hog is one of the most destructive, formidable invasive specie s in the U.S., the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) says.

Known as a wild boar, razorback, feral hog or wild pig—to name a few, this species is known to adapt to nearly any habitat, reproduce at high rates and has few natural predators. Populations also pose risks to human health and safety as they can carry parasites and diseases such as pseudorabies and foodborne illnesses such as E. coli, toxoplasmosis, and trichinosis, USDA APHIS says.

To help protect agricultural and natural resources, property, animal health and human health and safety, APHIS established the National Feral Swine Damage Management Program in 2014. This has led to collaboration between several stakeholders, including states, tribes, universities and the public, as well as Canada and Mexico to support cross-border activities, APHIS explains.

To date, this initiative has worked with 41 states and 3 territories, removing all feral swine from 11 states, including Colorado , Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

Texas and California have also ramped up hunting measures to help control their wild pig populations.

Additionally, “the 2018 Farm Bill provided funding for APHIS and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to create the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program ,” USDA APHIS says, targeting areas in the U.S. with high feral swine populations, such as the southeastern region.

African swine fever remains a concern across the globe. Many countries with confirmed cases, such as Italy and Hong Kong , trace their outbreaks back to wild pig populations.

APHIS and its partners continue to aim to limit the expansion of feral swine populations and the damage they cause.

New Study Investigates Feed Mill Decontamination in the Event of an ASF Outbreak

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 15:11:07 GMT

A new research study will evaluate methods for cleaning and disinfecting feed mills following a potential African swine fever (ASF) outbreak. The information gained will inform North American feed industries’ ASF preparedness plans as well as feed mill biosecurity plans to minimize supply chain and trade disruptions in the event of an outbreak.

The study is being conducted by the Institute for Feed Education and Research (IFEEDER), Animal Nutrition Association of Canada (ANAC), United Soybean Board (USB) and the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC).

“SHIC continues to look into all routes of entry and dissemination of emerging diseases, not just to identify these pathways, but to do something about them with research of this kind,” SHIC Executive Director Paul Sundberg, DVM, said in a release. “With partnership across the allied feed-related groups to benefit the U.S. swine herd, SHIC is encouraged to see this project move forward. We have learned that once ASF virus is in a feed mill, it will remain in that environment for a long time. This work is essential to address this risk to the U.S. swine herd.”

Over the course of 12-18 months, researchers will examine optimal methods for disinfecting feed mills, especially looking at feed manufacturing equipment that is not designed for disinfection. Researchers will test several disinfection and flushing procedures using three viruses known to be most stable in feed and endemic in the U.S., SHIC reports. Those viruses include Seneca Virus A (SVA), porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). Researchers will also determine the infectivity of feed and environmental samples after completely flushing and decontaminating equipment.

Feed inoculation and manufacturing will occur in Kansas State University’s Cargill Feed Safety Research Center, which includes a pilot-scale feed mill with pelleting capabilities and is approved for handling biosafety level 2 pathogens, Sundberg said. The infectivity of the samples will take place at Iowa State University.

“Over the past few years, the U.S. feed industry has taken steps to improve its biosecurity procedures to reduce the risk of ASF introduction and transmission at feed mills, such as voluntarily holding ingredients for extended periods and reducing foot-traffic onsite,” Lara Moody, IFEEDER executive director, said in a release. “Now, we are looking at filling knowledge gaps within the milling process – should an outbreak occur. There are currently no recommendations for best practices to clean and disinfect a feed manufacturing facility experiencing ASF contamination. With the support of American Feed Industry Association members, we are backing this research to provide guidance to companies to quickly and safely get their operations back up and running, minimizing any long-term shutdowns, which could have detrimental food supply chain and economic consequences.”

Although ASF poses no health concerns to humans, it is a highly contagious and deadly viral disease affecting pigs and has devastated swine industries across Africa, Europe and Asia. In the summer of 2021, it was detected in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the closest it has ever been to the U.S. mainland.

“The Canadian feed industry recognizes the devastating impact the introduction of ASF in North America would have on the swine industry,” Melissa Dumont, ANAC’s executive director, said in a release. “A strong biosecurity and supplier approval program is key to keeping animal diseases out of feed mills and these programs continue to evolve as the science evolves. However, if ASF were to be introduced in North America and enter feed mills, facilities are lacking the crucial information on how to decontaminate a feed mill. ANAC is excited to support this research project, which will provide critically important knowledge so we can adequately be prepared in the event of an outbreak and continue to provide all livestock with safe feed.”

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Why the U.S. Pork Industry Won’t Forget 2021

Close All the Windows to Keep ASF Out

ASF in the Western Hemisphere: What’s Different 40 Years Later?

It’s Time to Batten Down the Hatches, Pork Industry Experts Say

Learn more about what the industry is doing to prevent ASF from entering the country.

Ordinary to Outrageous: Top 10 Agricultural Seizures of 2021

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 20:42:12 GMT

It’s no surprise pork products made the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Top 10 Agriculture Seizures of 2021 list more than once. Keeping deadly diseases of plants and animals out of the U.S. is a high priority for CBP, especially as the deadly African swine fever (ASF) virus moves closer to the U.S.

In the past year alone, CBP issued 73,917 emergency action notifications for restricted and prohibited plant and animal products entering the U.S., the agency reports . In addition, CBP conducted 630,150 positive passenger inspections and issued 7,190 civil penalties and/or violations to the traveling public for failing to declare prohibited agriculture items.

Here are the Top 10 agricultural finds of 2021 from throughout the U.S.:

1. Papaya-Hidden Marijuana

In February, CBP officers at the commercial facility at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry seized more than 12,000 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $27 million found commingled within a shipment of papayas. A CBP narcotic detector dog immediately alerted to the shipment during a second inspection, and officers discovered 873 wrapped packages of marijuana.

2. Avian Eggs

In April, CBP ag specialists at the port of Memphis, Tenn., inspected a shipment from China on its way to New York City manifested as “The Scarf” and found that the shipment actually contained 750 unfertilized avian eggs. According to USDA, China is currently affected with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and Newcastle Disease, both of which are highly contagious and fatal to the U.S. poultry industry and various avian wildlife. The eggs were not accompanied by any documentation detailing the genus or species, nor was there any indication of their purpose, so they were destroyed.

3. Giant Land Snails and a ¼ Pound of Beef

CBP ag specialists working at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston intercepted 15 live giant land snails from a passenger’s luggage in early July. The passenger was traveling from Nigeria and initially only declared dried beef, but later amended her declaration to include live snails. During an examination of the passenger’s luggage, agriculture specialists found three plastic zip-closed bags containing the live snails with fresh leaves and about a quarter pound of beef. The snails were turned over to USDA, who identified the snails as giant land snails, also known as banana rasp snails.

4. Pork Sausages

In August, CBP agriculture specialists assigned to the Boston Logan International Airport encountered a 35-year-old female arriving from Santiago, Dominican Republic. During a baggage examination, 11 kilograms of pork sausages were discovered. Just a month prior, Dominican Republic officials confirmed the presence of African swine fever, a highly contagious disease of feral and domestic swine. The pork sausages at the Boston airport were removed and turned over to a USDA hauler for destruction.

Ag specialists uncovered 320 pounds of pork bologna and 30 pounds of turkey ham at the Paso Del Norte Border Crossing. Photo by U.S. CBP.

5. A Bunch of Bologna

CBP ag specialists assigned to the Paso Del Norte Border Crossing seized 320 pounds of pork bologna and 30 pounds of turkey ham in August. The meat was discovered during an inspection and had been hidden under blankets, under the seats, center console and inside a duffel bag. The individual was issued a $1,000 civil penalty, and the products were confiscated.

6. Botulinum and E.coli DNA Plasmids

A traveler arriving from Japan “reluctantly declared” he was in possession of Botulinum and E. coli DNA plasmids intended for research in September, CBP reports. An inspection revealed 27 vials of the biological material. The traveler lacked the required documents, including the official statement attesting to the non-infectiousness of the material, required by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). After reviewing the samples, CDC agreed that more information was needed to determine admissibility. The traveler withdrew his application for admission to the U.S. and returned to his country with the biological materials.

7. Butterfly Larvae

Also in September, CBP agriculture specialists at the Port of Gulfport discovered a butterfly larvae pest, informally known as the Saunders 1850, while inspecting a shipment container of pineapples from Costa Rica. Due to the potential impact to U.S. agriculture, the shipment of pineapples, worth $15,000, was destroyed. According to USDA, this was the first time this species had been discovered in the United States.

8. Primate Arms, Dry Fish, Cooked Snails, Cow Skin and What?

In October, CBP’s agriculture team in Minneapolis discovered six large bags containing clothing, two primate arms, dry fish, cooked snails, plant material, cow skin, bushmeat and eru plant material. After notifying the CDC, the team seized the primate arms and bushmeat and destroyed them according to USDA protocol. The seeds were submitted to USDA for identification and the passenger was informed of human-health concerns with handling and consuming bushmeat, including the potential transmission of ebola and monkeypox viruses.

A total of 47 roosters and hens were found wrapped in stockings inside a purse, and underneath the seats, floor mats, inside the glove compartment and trunk of a vehicle at the Laredo Port of Entry. Photo by U.S. CBP.

9. Live Poultry

CBP officers at the Laredo Port of Entry intercepted a l arge clutch of live poultry hidden throughout a vehicle back in November. A total of 47 roosters and hens were found wrapped in stockings inside a purse, and underneath the seats, floor mats, inside the glove compartment and trunk of a vehicle in the SENTRI lane. A $500 penalty was issued to the driver for attempting to import prohibited agriculture items while being a SENTRI card holder. The SENTRI card was turned in to the SENTRI Enrollment Center, the vehicle was seized by CBP under 19 USC 1595, and the live poultry were seized and transferred to USDA’s Veterinary Services.

10. Fresh Peppers

In December, CBP ag specialists in Newark encountered a shipment of fresh peppers from Guatemala. During document review, the provided phytosanitary certificate, which must be used to facilitate importer plants and plant products, was blurry, and an original certificate could not be found. It was later discovered that the certification was fraudulent, which can alter the options for phytosanitary actions that must be taken to prevent the entry of plant pests, prohibited plant products, or animal products capable of introducing foreign animal diseases.

In an attempt to ease the process for travelers needing to declare agriculture and biological products prior to arriving at an airport in the U.S., CBP has moved the declaration process to the CBP One mobile application, which will give travelers more transparency throughout the request process, including real-time status updates by way of pushed notifications, which can also be sent to a group email, CBP reports. Travelers can also upload documents such as accompanying permits, certificates or statements of non-infectiousness for CBP review prior to arrival. Learn more here .

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

The Chickens That Didn’t Cross the Road in Laredo

$53 million in narcotics found in truck carrying Mexican cauliflower

Federal Agents Prevent Smuggled Animal Products from Entering the U.S.

K-9 “Kody” Sniffs Out Prohibited Sausages at Newark Airport

U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepts meth in strawberries

CBP Ag Specialists Block Bologna at Border Crossing

Wild Pigs Could Trigger Decimation of US Pork Industry

Tue, 13 Jul 2021 20:35:35 GMT

What happens when wild pigs are given 1,000 tons of groceries per day in the form of landfill trash? Expect an explosion in pig and litter size, and quite possibly, a $50 billion decimation of the entire U.S. pork industry.

The Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina has become ground zero for research drawing a nexus between wild pigs and the potential introduction of African swine fever (ASF) into the U.S. At an SRS location, wild pigs have grown notably bigger and birthed larger litters in just a handful of years, attributable to the establishment of a landfill—a veritable hog buffet. The SRS landfill and other similar refuse dumps across the U.S. may be ticking time bombs, and could open America’s door to ASF, an epic porcine disease with no vaccine or cure, and a century-long track record of sweeping over international borders and wiping out billions of pigs.

Sooner or Later?

In the sandhills region of western South Carolina, roughly 25 miles east of Augusta, Ga., the Department of Energy’s SRS covers a massive 198,046 acres across three counties (Aiken, Allendale, and Barnwell). The wild pig population of the general area has long been tracked by Jack Mayer, R&D manager at the Savannah River National Laboratory , and John Kilgo, research wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station .

In 2021, Mayer and Kilgo (along with Tommy Edwards and James Garabedian) published “Sanitary Waste Landfill Effects on an Invasive Wild Pig Population,” a report that turns anecdotal evidence into concrete fact. The report pulls back the curtain on an all-you-can-eat wild pig party, and the results are sobering, particularly when considering ASF ramifications.

In 1998, within an 8,000-acre wildlife management zone encompassed by the greater SRS region, Three Rivers Solid Waste Authority (TRSWA) began operation of an open (no fencing) 331-acre landfill encompassed by woods and shouldered in close proximity by two roads. The landfill’s actual garbage pits covered 69 acres and received 1,000 tons of waste each day—a magnet for wild pigs already capable of obtaining food from a litany of sources. A wild pig’s dietary latitude is phenomenal, from foraging roots, to accessing tree nuts, to hitting a freshly planted row of corn, to consuming the remains of dead mammals, or to functioning as a predator, i.e., the modus operandi of a truly opportunistic, efficient omnivore.

By at least 2001, wild pig sounders regularly were trafficking into the SRS landfill under cover of darkness and usually exiting close to dawn. By 2009, TRSWA employees reported 100-plus wild pigs foraging in the garbage pits every night. With plenty of cover and water in the surrounding wooded hills and hardwood bottoms, the wild pigs had maintained steady presence inside the area since the 1950s, but their numbers remained relatively stable. The landfill, however, upended the calculus.

In 2013, Kilgo began a telemetry study of mature sows with sounders in the vicinity of the landfill, utilizing trail cameras, trapping, and radio collars. His cameras positioned close to the TRSWA landfill told no lies: to the naked eye, the wild pigs appeared substantially larger when compared with pre-landfill photos and first-hand sightings. “John had pictures of pigs he was collaring and they were big, really big,” Mayer says. “I’ve been studying wildlife here since 1976 and I could tell instantly these pigs were bigger. Huge.”

“When I started trapping,” Kilgo concurs, “it was immediately obvious that pigs close to the landfill were noticeably bigger than pigs in the rest of the area. The telemetry showed them going to the landfill on a nightly basis. I imagine the jump in size began immediately after the landfill was first built.”

“It’s intuitive,” Mayer adds. “Let pigs into a landfill and they get free food, and they’ll increase in size, right? But no research had ever looked into exactly what else happens, and some of the answers we found should make people think hard about what could happen—sooner or later—in this country, and how devastating it could be for the pork industry.”

“In Front of Our Face”

Wild pigs have exploded in numbers across the U.S., possibly exceeding 6.5 million in just under 40 states, and their proliferation involves far more than a high birth rate and extreme intelligence. Wild pig control has become one of the greatest challenges in U.S. wildlife management history, and wild pig prosperity is partially due to a hog’s ability to thrive on a wide range of food sources—such as the fare offered in a landfill.

On control data ranging back to the 1970s, Mayer’s team already had a wealth of continuous SRS wild pig cull statistics in pocket. Across 11,296 hogs spread from 1980 to 2019, they found post-landfill weight gains in both sexes and all age classes. Comparing two lump sums from pre- and post-landfill wild pigs, weight gain averaged 20 lb. across all ages and both sexes (a shocking number considering the average includes piglets and juveniles). As a telltale exclamation point, the largest wild pigs ever killed at SRS were shot in woods within range of the landfill in 2018—a 400 lb. sow and 450 lb. boar.

“The research is striking in the pig size difference, especially in how fast this happened,” Kilgo notes. “There was one piglet we tagged at three weeks old and 8 lb. in weight, and we killed it a year and a half later at 250 lb.—an incredible rate of growth. All things being equal, he should have been about 130-140 lb., but most definitely not at 250.”

Further, with 799 sows harvested from 1980 to 2019, fetal litter in post-landfill sows registered at 7.1 piglets, compared with 5.9 for pre-landfill sows—just over one piglet in difference. The in utero litter increase of the single piglet meant a massive change in wild pig numbers. “The population modeling by increasing litter size as such over 10 years means a population difference of double in size—a huge difference,” Mayer explains. (He estimates close to 5,000 wild pigs currently inhabit the area.)

Following the thread, Mayer and Kilgo recorded a third category of significance directly related to wild pig size and frequency of travel in and out of the landfill: wild pig-motor vehicle collisions. According to data gathered since the mid-1970s, the SRS site had no recorded wild pig-motor vehicle collisions on either of the two roads (one private, one public) adjacent to the pre-landfill area, despite the constant presence of wild pigs in that area of SRS the entire time.

However, from 2000 onward, the same two roads experienced 20 wild pig-motor vehicle collisions, with at least 14 of the accidents occurring within an hour on either side of sunset or sunrise—the exact window wild pigs enter and exit the landfill for nightly foraging. “There were no collisions for a couple of decades, and then wild pig traffic shot up, and got so bad we had to put up the first ‘Hog Crossing’ signs in South Carolina,” Mayer says.

Considering the jump in size, fetal litter, and vehicle collisions, Mayer wasn’t surprised to see the wild pig population around the landfill possibly triple in size. “Control activities around the whole site are implemented uniformly by sending in subcontractors to kill wild pigs, but around the landfill, the harvest numbers tripled. We’ve never seen anything like this, and it means the landfill situation is producing bigger hogs, more hogs, and a safety risk. Allowing wild pigs access to a landfill is counter to controlling wild pigs.”

Yet, beyond wild pig control, the gravity of the Mayer-Kilgo research is noted in the report’s conclusion: “Several credible scenarios exist for the introduction of ASFV (African swine fever Virus) into the United States. Based on the paths of transmission across Eurasia, a number of these scenarios involve wild pigs foraging in landfills.”

Mayer offers a blunt, vernacular translation. “ASF could wreck the U.S. pork industry, and this is right in front of our face, and there are plenty of experts that believe ASF in the U.S. is just a matter of time. We know landfills played a role in ASF transmission in other parts of the world, and we know wild pigs are accessing landfills across the U.S. right now and could consume contaminated pork products. Look what just happened to China in 2019. They had about 440,000,000 pigs when ASF hit, the largest herd in the world, and had to kill at least 200,000,000.”

Game Over

ASF unleashes a sledgehammer effect on pig health, and triggered the death of a quarter (or more) of the world’s pig population over the last several years. The virus often carries a mortality rate close to 100% and is the kiss of death for a hog herd. If the virus reaches the U.S. pork industry, long-term losses are projected as high as $50 billion, according to a 2020 report partially funded by Iowa State University.

The report projects a strong possibility of ASF entry into the U.S. domestic pig herd through back door access: “The likelihood of the disease entering the U.S. through illegal entry of swine products and byproducts is high…”

“Illegal entry” of ASF into the U.S. is the precise scenario fostered by landfills and wild pigs, Mayer contends. “We’ve watched ASF spread like wildfire to the Middle East, Eurasia, Russia, Korea, China, and now into Western Europe. Landfills were a big component of ASF’s expansion in other parts of the world, and the same thing could happen here. We’ve never had an ASF outbreak in the U.S., and the last thing our pork industry wants is that economic devastation.”

Landfills, potentially the domain of heavy wild pig presence, are often the final destination for pork products illegally brought into the U.S., Mayer continues. “We get people from Asia coming into airports carrying pork products, and that pork gets confiscated by airport authorities. Everyone knows this has been going on, and still is. The confiscated pork gets thrown in the landfill, and all it takes is one sample infected with ASF to send the virus through a wild pig population, and eventually right into the domestic herd. We’ve got specially trained beagles in our airports (USDA’s Beagle Brigade ) seeking out pork products—that’s how serious the situation is.”

The U.S. has at least 500 active landfills, most with no fences, and many within easy access of wild pigs. “Seminole County Landfill near Orlando, or Guadalupe Landfill beside San Jose, or landfills at Fort Rucker, Alabama, or so many other landfills; take your pick,” Mayer says. “I wish they would put fencing up, but that’s probably not likely due to the expense.”

“If you want to prevent ASF from having a greater likelihood of entering the U.S. pork industry, open access landfills are counter to that prevention,” Mayer adds. “We’re talking about high-stakes ASF consequence and the potential devastation for American pork. In many ways, ASF could be game over.”

For more stories from Chris Bennett (cbennett@farmjournal.com), see:

While America Slept, China Stole the Farm

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Truth, Lies, and Wild Pigs: Missouri Hunter Prosecuted on Presumption of Guilt?

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Ghost in the House: A Forgotten American Farming Tragedy

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Predator Tractor Unleashed on Farmland by Ag’s True Maverick

Government Cameras Hidden on Private Property? Welcome to Open Fields

Farmland Detective Finds Youngest Civil War Soldier’s Grave?

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Evil Grain: The Wild Tale of History’s Biggest Crop Insurance Scam

Grizzly Hell: USDA Worker Survives Epic Bear Attack

A Skeptical Farmer’s Monster Message on Profitability

Farmer Refuses to Roll, Rips Lid Off IRS Behavior

Killing Hogzilla: Hunting a Monster Wild Pig

Shattered Taboo: Death of a Farm and Resurrection of a Farmer

Frozen Dinosaur: Farmer Finds Huge Alligator Snapping Turtle Under Ice

Breaking Bad: Chasing the Wildest Con Artist in Farming History

In the Blood: Hunting Deer Antlers with a Legendary Shed Whisperer

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Against All Odds: Farmer Survives Epic Ordeal

Agriculture’s Darkest Fraud Hidden Under Dirt and Lies

Vilsack Weighs In On Parallel Between COVID-19 and Animal Disease Outbreaks

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 13:36:43 GMT

If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught the country anything, USDA Secretary of Agriculture nominee Tom Vilsack said it’s that there is a tremendous amount of synergy between the circumstances of a pandemic involving humans and those involving animals.

During the Coalition for Epi Response, Engagement and Science (CERES) Biosecurity Infectious Disease Symposium at Colorado State University (CSU) on Jan. 28, Vilsack explored the parallels between the animal and human infectious disease pandemics with CSU Vice President for Research Alan Rudolph.

A coordinated response
Vilsack said there are three lessons learned from the pandemic that can help the country better prepare for future human and animal infectious disease outbreaks.

“It’s pretty clear. Lesson number one is the sooner you can detect a problem, the better,” Vilsack said. “Clearly, we didn’t respond aggressively to the pandemic early in the process and we are currently paying for that failure to early detect.”

The second lesson learned is that incredible coordination is required during a disease outbreak, whether it’s an animal disease situation or human disease situation, he said. This starts with the ability of every government level – local, state, federal – to coordinate and work together.

“We’re now seeing that the challenge with reference to the vaccine distribution not being well coordinated, and obviously lives are at stake,” Vilsack said. “Tragically, we are seeing in places like Los Angeles, difficulties with this issue as it relates to the pandemic. We’ve certainly seen it with animal disposal as well. We need a more effective and efficient disposal method.”

Thirdly, the country needs to be able to create, distribute and manufacture vaccines more quickly. All of this involves effective communication, he added.

“It’s pretty clear that we need to continue to invest in research and development, both in animal health and human health and understand the connection and coalition between the two. And that’s going to require some resources. Hopefully, we’ve learned from this pandemic, and previous experiences, that it’s important and necessary to invest in research and development,” Vilsack said.

Human and animal disease parallels
Being able to flex between human and animal disease research is important, Rudolph said. Many of the labs in the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) that sit on land-grant campuses have flexed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Many of these NAHLN diagnostic labs have shifted to being human CLIA diagnostic labs and really supported the infrastructure. We’ve seen a plasticity that I think is also a really interesting lesson learned – that we can flex between human and animal,” Rudolph said.

When Vilsack previously served as Secretary of Agriculture, the U.S. began building new assets to deal with large animal disease outbreaks like African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease, Rudolph noted.

“It’s pretty clear that we needed to modernize our facilities,” Vilsack said. “Plum Island was in very difficult shape. And while it was isolated from the continental 48 states and had a significantly lower risk of an escape of some disease or problem that would cause significant problems in the animal world, the move to Manhattan, Kan., creates a very incredibly secure facility with modern capacity to do what we need to do to better understand the nature of disease, how viruses are formulated and how they mutate over a period of time.”

Vilsack said it will be an important asset in the effort to detect disease early and be able to more effectively respond and prevent. However, he said the challenge is that we will always be confronted with animal diseases of one sort or another.

“We learned from the avian influenza situation that it took us a while to figure out what, and then it took us a while to figure out how to produce a vaccine, and then it took us a little while to produce it, and then a little while to distribute it,” Vilsack said. “The reality was that we saw fairly significant destruction of chickens and turkeys that really impacted and affected consumers, and obviously affected producers.”

Because of the pandemic, he believes the country has a heightened awareness now of the necessity of being able to respond quickly and effectively – from a national security perspective and economic security perspective – if the U.S. is hit with a pandemic or animal disease outbreak.

Editor’s Note: The CERES coalition brings together six premier land grant universities: University of California-Davis, Texas A&M University, Colorado State University, Kansas State University, Iowa State University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to mobilize land-grant university discoveries and innovations in agricultural infectious diseases. The coalition has integrated a network of federally funded bio-containment resources for surveillance, diagnostics and countermeasure production, while actively engaging communities through Extension engagement and outreach.

Read more:

ARS Advances Fight Against Deadly African Swine Fever Virus

5 Ways USDA Protected Animal Ag in 2020

Canada Fights Back Against Out-of-Control Wild Pig Population

K-9 “Kody” Sniffs Out Prohibited Sausages at Newark Airport

Animal Protein Sector Needs to Realign with 2020 Foodservice Survivors, CoBank Says

Feral Swine Eradication: USDA invests $11.65 Million to Expand Program

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 16:04:27 GMT

An $11.65-million investment by the USDA will help agricultural producers and private landowners trap and control feral swine as part of the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program. This new investment will fund 14 projects to expand the pilot program in Alabama, Hawaii, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.

This program is a joint effort between USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). This second round of funding is for partners to carry out activities as part of the identified pilot projects in select states, USDA said in a release.

“These awards enable landowners to address the threat that feral swine pose to natural resources and agriculture,” NRCS Acting Chief Kevin Norton said. “The projects we have identified will be key to addressing the feral swine problem.”

NRCS will provide funding to partners who will provide financial assistance, education, outreach and trapping assistance to participating landowners in pilot project areas, USDA said. All partner work will be closely coordinated with the APHIS operations in these areas. Between the first and second round of funding, there will be a total of 34 active projects across 12 states for the life of the 2018 Farm Bill. Learn more here .

USDA said new pilot projects and areas were selected in coordination with NRCS state conservationists, APHIS state directors and state technical committees based on areas in greatest need of assistance due to high densities of wild pigs.

The three coordinated components of the projects include feral swine removal by APHIS, restoration efforts supported by NRCS and assistance to producers for feral swine control provided through partnership agreements with non-federal partners. Projects will be completed by the end of September 2023.

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Western States Unite to Keep Feral Pigs from Crossing U.S.-Canada Border

Can You Really Trap Feral Pigs with Your Cell Phone?

Feral Swine: USDA Monitors World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species

How Colorado Eliminated Feral Hogs

Feral Hog Stomachs Tell Story of Destruction

Montana Puts Plan in Place to Keep Canadian Feral Hogs Out

Texas Community Hires Consultant to Fight Feral Hog Problem