Your moment of Science! for the weekend.
[T]he population of Texas wild pigs -- now topping 2 million -- is exploding thanks to high reproductive rates and few natural predators.The Texas AgriLife Extension Service estimates the hogs cause $50 million in damage each year.
But the answer may be coming from a lab at Texas A&M University, where a team of researchers is testing an oral contraceptive for the hogs and other pests. It may even become applicable for pets like cats and dogs.
Duane Kraemer, a professor of veterinary physiology and pharmacology who heads the team at Texas A&M, said ranchers and farmers who hear about his research want to know more, "but development of an oral contraceptive for an animal that people eat and is to be released into the environment is a complex issue, no question about it."
The contraceptive, called a phosphodiesterase 3 inhibitor and in development for about a year and a half, is now in a capsule form and has been fed to captive pigs at the university's research facility.
"It does appear to be effective," Kraemer said, in preventing the females' eggs from maturing.
"The animals can continue to cycle and breed," Kraemer said. "Their behaviors are the same, except they don't get pregnant."
[...]
He estimates it could be three to five years before the Pill for pigs is readily available. The next step in the research is to get some experience outside the lab, where the test pigs have gobbled up the drug mixed with Oreo cookies.
Clearly, some other delivery system for the drug other than cookies will be required in the field. Already, he said he's got offers from "quite a few people" eager to participate in the testing on their land.
Among hurdles yet to be overcome are how often the drug will be dispensed, how to get it only to the animals that need to be controlled and assurances that long-term environmental damage won't result from any drugs not consumed or left behind in animal waste.
"It's got to be effective, it's got to be specific, it's got to be acceptable to meat consumed by humans ... and it's got to be environmentally safe," Kraemer said.