graduate students outside sfws building after graduation
Conference At a Glance
This tentative agenda will be revised periodically to reflect updates on conference sessions as they become available. A more detailed agenda with presentation titles will be available in early January 2026.
| Agenda (As of 3/17/2026) | 2026 International Wild Pig Conference (Central Time Zone) | |
|---|---|---|
| MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2026 | ||
| 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM | Registration | |
| 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM | Welcome Reception | |
| TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2026 | ||
| Welcome and Opening Remarks | ||
| 8:00 AM - 8:10 AM | Dr. Mark Smith, Auburn University | |
| 8:10 AM - 8:40 AM | Jack Mayer, Savannah River National Laboratory | |
| 8:40 AM - 9:10 AM | National Feral Swine Damage Management Program | |
| Dana Cole, USDA/APHIS/National Feral Swine Damage Management Program | ||
| 9:10 AM - 9:40 AM | Wildlife Services’ African swine fever preparedness and response efforts in feral swine | |
| Gregory A. Franckowiak, USDA/APHIS/National Feral Swine Damage Management Program | ||
| 9:40 AM - 10:00 AM | Break | |
| Technical Topic | Toxicants and Contraceptives | |
| 10:00 AM - 10:20 AM | Status of Kaput Feral Hog Bait in the US | |
| Richard M. Poche, Gensis Laboratories, Inc. | ||
| 10:20 AM - 10:40 AM | A practical field evaluation of the feral hog toxicant, Kaput | |
| John M. Tomecek, Texas A&M AgriLife Research | ||
| 10:40 AM - 11:00 AM | Small but mighty spill hinders use of a sodium nitrite bait for wild pigs in the US, and next steps | |
| Nathan P. Snow, USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services | ||
| 11:00 AM - 11:20 AM | Crossing the Pacific: What Australia’s toxicant toolbox can (and can’t) solve for US wild hog control | |
| Daniel Lewer, Hunter Land Management | ||
| 11:20 AM - 11:40 AM | Transitioning change in baiting practise to control feral pigs in the Australian rangelands | |
| John Scriven, Darling Downs South West Queensland Feral Pig Program | ||
| 11:40 AM - 12:00 PM | A species-specific approach to control of wild pigs: new tools for the toolbox | |
| Frank F. Bartol, Auburn University | ||
| 12:00 PM - 1:20 PM | Lunch | |
| Concurrent Session | ||
| Technical Topics | Ecological and Agricultural Impacts | Management Approaches |
| 1:20 PM - 1:40 PM | Effects of wild pig disturbance on tadpole detections within seasonal wetlands across a subtropical agroecosystem | What are you doing? A discussion on wild pig management objectives and how they affect methods, timing and resources. |
| Wesley M. Anderson, Auburn University | Michael J. Bodenchuk, Consulting Biologist | |
| 1:40 PM - 2:00 PM | Ecological impacts of wildpPigs in the Red Hills: Insights from a frequently burned landscape | Use of the incident command system for wild pig control in Missouri, USA |
| Kim Sash, Tall Timbers | Keith M. Carlisle, USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services | |
| 2:00 PM - 2:20 PM | Population level implications of the avoidance of wild pigs by eastern wild turkeys | Developing an island-wide, community based feral swine control program for Guam |
| Matthew T. McDonough, Auburn University | Chad D. Richardson, USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services | |
| 2:20 PM - 2:40 PM | Reducing losses caused by feral pigs to Australian agriculture | Improving efficiency of aerial operations in removing feral swine from the landscape |
| Heather A. Channon, Australian Pork Limited | Keith Wehner, USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services | |
| 2:40 PM - 3:00 PM | The time-varying costs of invasive species: An application to wild pig damages in US cropland agriculture | Pig damage rapid assessments: A simple approach to evaluate control efforts |
| Sophie C. McKee, Colorado State University | Raymond B. Iglay, Mississippi State University | |
| 3:00 PM - 3:20 PM | Break | |
| Technical Topic | Biology and Ecology | |
| 3:20 PM - 3:40 PM | Movement ecology of Japanese wild boar following human abandonment of the Fukushima Nuclear Exclusion Zone | |
| Travis E. Stoakley, University of Georgia | ||
| 3:40 PM - 4:00 PM | Predicting wild pig movement distances and habitat selection across contiguous U.S. | |
| Kim M. Pepin, USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services | ||
| 4:00 PM - 4:20 PM | Estimating resource selection and potential carrying capacity of white-tailed deer and wild | |
| Melanie R. Bourdreau, Mississippi State University | ||
| 4:20 PM - 4:40 PM | Do culling methods matter? Behavioral responses of wild pigs to intensive culling | |
| Kelly J. Koriakin, USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services | ||
| 4:40 PM - 5:00 PM | ||
| WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2026 | ||
| State Reports | ||
| 8:00 AM - 9:40 AM | AL, AR, KY, MO, MN, NC, Guam | |
| 9:40 AM - 10:00 AM | Break | |
| Traps, Trapping, and Technology | ||
| 10:00 AM - 10:20 AM | Evaluation of common trap types for capturing invasive wild pigs | |
| Charles R. Taylor, University of Georgia | ||
| 10:20 AM - 10:40 AM | Evaluating mobile versus permanent corral trap deployment for whole sounder removal | |
| Rod Pinkston, Hog Control Academy | ||
| 10:40 AM - 11:00 AM | Measuring removal efficiency: An event-level approach to whole-sounder elimination | |
| Rod Pinkston, Hog Control Academy | ||
| 11:00 AM - 11:20 AM | Measuring what really matters: live-trapping effectiveness and animal welfare in wild boar management | |
| Pietro Pontiggia, University of Tor Vergata | ||
| 11:20 AM - 11:40 AM | Proximity to bait and social interactions influence individual wild pig (Sus scrofa) visitation at bait sites | |
| Sydney M. Brewer, University of Georgia | ||
| 11:40 AM - 12:00 PM | AI-enhanced efficiency in hog trapping operations | |
| Jack Robertson, Wildlife Dominion Management, LLC | ||
| 12:00 PM - 1:20 PM | Lunch | |
| Concurrent Session | ||
| Technical Topics | Disease and Genetics | Population Dynamics |
| 1:20 PM - 1:40 PM | Characterizing patterns and rates of wild pig translocation within the contiguous United States | Developing a removal model to evaluate long-term management impacts on wild pig density in the southeastern US |
| Timothy J. Smyser, USDA/APHIS/Wildlilfe Services | John R. Foster, USDA/APHIS/Veterinary Services | |
| 1:40 PM - 2:00 PM | Landscape genetics of invasive wild pigs in Great Smoky Mountains National Park | Managing Open Wild Pig Populations: Rapid Removal, Rapid Recolonization |
| Anna M. Mangan, USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services | Stephen J. Zenas, Auburn University | |
| 2:00 PM - 2:20 PM | Italy’s challenge in controlling ASF within the European framework | Short term population dynamics drive the spread of invasive wild pigs and reveal impacts of management in North America |
| Francesco Feliziani, IZS Umbria e Marche | Ryan S. Miller, USDA/APHIS/Veterinary Services | |
| 2:20 PM - 2:40PM | Initial field evaluations of ASF Red Book Strategies for localized eradication of wild pig populations | Estimating probability of feral swine elimination and abundance trends using multiple operational data streams |
| Sebastian Gomez-Maldonado, Auburn University | William S. Raymond, USDA/APHIS/ Wildlife Services | |
| 2:40 PM - 3:00 PM | ||
| 3:00 PM - 3:20 PM | Break | |
| 3:20 PM - 5:00 PM | National Wild Pig Task Force Meeting and Discussion | |
| POSTERS | ||
| Comparing the past and present: How Georgia landowners’ opinions on wild pig management have changed | Maycee J. Barnaby, University of Georgia | |
| Factors influencing detection of wild pigs (Sus scrofa) and evaluation of thermal technology and baiting for improving the efficiency of aerial removal operations | Annie F. Beadle, Univesity of Georgia | |
| Effects of temporal bait decay on wild pig abundance estimates | Charlie Brill, Clemson University | |
| Hepatitis e and tuberculosis in wild boars: when wildlife challenges consumer safety | Marta Castrica, Univesity of Padova | |
| Wild boar (Sus scrofa) under fire: behavioral response to different management approaches | Simone Dalcanale, University of Trento | |
| Development of novel methods for delivery of pig-specific immunocontraceptives | James W. Gillespie, Auburn University | |
| Turbo fladry fencing to mitigate short-term agricultural damage caused by wild pigs | Michael P. Glow, USDA/APHIS/National Feral Swine Damage Management Program | |
| Controlling wild pigs on public land: A landscape-level approach in the Cohutta Mountains | Rolliins Jolly, USDA/Forest Service | |
| Evaluating genomic and environmental determinants of wild pig fecundity | Ashley M. Larson, Colorado State University | |
| Pig eradication from a large subantartic island | Jenny Long, New Zealand Department of Conservation | |
| Exploring immune gene expression across introgression fronts in feral swine populations | Clara C.P. Mankowski, Auburn University | |
| Feral swine trap site selection using GPS telemetry and landscape characteristics in central North Carolina | William Mayfield, North Carolina State University | |
| Land cover attributes affect the distribution of rooting damage by wild pigs | Travis E. Stoakley, University of Georgia | |
| A systematic review of feral swine incidents and response | Jackson D. VerSteeg, Texas A&M University |
