LSU Researchers Moving Closer To Feral Hog Bait

By Don Molino

Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network

Dr. Glen Gentry, Feral Swine Specialist at the LSU AgCenters Idlewild Research Station in East Feliciana Parish, has been working almost twenty years on finding a way to control feral hogs, using sodium nitrite as a bait. Now, he says, they may be getting close.

Apparently, one of the keys was incorporating the sodium nitrite into the bail matrix, which is basically fish meal.

“We’re on the cusp of getting ready to start EPA trials and it works. The pigs will die in about two and a half to three hours if they eat a lethal dose. If the don’t get a lethal dose, they’ll come back the next night and do it all over again.”

According to Gentry, the bait is very humane, it doesn’t hurt the pigs and they don’t shy away from the bait.

“We we’re really excited about where we are right now and w’’re fixing to try and start our EPA trials to go the route of getting this thing registered.”