Feral pigs

Abstract

Wild boar and feral pigs are the most widely distributed, medium-large sized free-living terrestrial mammal in the world. Growing populations of wild boar and feral pigs, together with their resultant environmental, agricultural, cultural and social impacts, have focused increased attention on their control by humans. This article discusses the biology, behavior and ecology of wild boar and feral pigs, their impacts, pathogens transmitted, and strategic initiatives being implemented in USA, Europe, Australia, and Canada to reduce ongoing threats that these animals pose. Different management approaches are used in different countries to control populations and their impacts. The importance of compliance with relevant legislation, welfare, and processing requirements to ensure that wild boar can be certified to be fit for human consumption is also presented. This review highlights the lack of published literature on microbiological, technological and sensory quality attributes of meat obtained from feral pigs. The latter section of this article is therefore based on European studies that have examined factors including season, diet type and availability, age, carcass weight and gender on carcass, meat and sensory characteristics of wild boar.