The Pigs of Ossabaw Island: A Case Study of the Application of Long-term Data in Management Plan Development

I. Lehr Brisbin, Jr.¹ and Michael S. Sturek²

¹Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, P.O. Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802
²Department of Cellular & Integrative Physiology, Indiana University School of Medicine,
635 Barnhill Drive, MS 309, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5120

Abstract: Management programs to control feral pigs and/or make them available for hunter harvest frequently must be instituted without the benefit of long-term databases describing the characteristics of the animals to be managed. When available however, such long-term data can prove invaluable in helping to tailor the resulting management plan and goals to the specific habitat and population to be managed. In some rare instances moreover, such long-term data can also identify unique characteristics of the target population and may in turn raise important issues that need to be considered, beyond simply how best to exterminate or reduce numbers to the maximum extent possible. We describe one such case concerning the pigs of Ossabaw Island, Georgia, which long-term research has now shown to represent an important animal model for studies of obesity and diabetes, two diseases which have now become epidemic in many human populations worldwide (Marx 2002, Holden 2004). We also describe how properly coordinated data collections from animals being removed in control programs can serve the best interests of both research aimed at studying the pigs themselves, as well as conservation interests attempting to reduce pig numbers to the maximum extent possible.