Chapter 29: Biological invasion of wild boar and feral pigs in South America321
region of Bahia Samborombón, where wild pigs have abundant
populations. Different environmental damages were reported,
but no economic or social complaints were made. By contrast,
alien pigs can have positive interactions with humans as bush-
meat and in social hunting practices (Coblentz & Baber 1987;
Desbiez et al. 2011). For Desbiez et al. (2011), wild pigs had an
additional positive effect as ‘alternative hunting target’ for wild-
life management and conservation of other species.
The long list of damages or positive and negative interac-
tions with human activities was already expected for wild pigs.
S. scrofa and peccaries play a similar role in environmental,
economic and social issues, including ecological interactions,
crops and livestock attacks, and disease reservoirs (Kiltie 1981;
Crawshaw et al. 2002; Kashivakura et al. 2003; Silman et al. 2003;
Beck 2006; Paine & Beck 2007; Keuroghlian et al. 2008; Taber
et al. 2008; Desbiez et al. 2009b; Keuroghlian & Eaton 2009;
Beck et al. 2010; Altrichter et al. 2012; Beck et al. 2013; Reider
et al. 2013). All these similarities between alien and native pigs
increase the challenges of managing those species to mitigate
conflicts, as well as conserving South American ecosystems by
opposite ways like eradication and reintroduction.Conclusion
The new massive wave of invasion of S. scrofa in South America
did not display dependency solely on the biological features
of this species, such as dispersal and reproduction. Important
human aspects regarding this invasion must also be considered
for decision making. For example, stocks of captive S. scrofa and
different human-mediated dispersals (e.g. for sport-hunting)
must be properly measured and understood due to the constant
risk of wild population restocking. This gap is essential for the
effective control of invasions across the continent. Moreover,
the invasion range is quite wide, with 12 per cent of the conti-
nental area and five countries connected by cross-border wild
populations. The effectiveness of the control is thus dependenton international cooperation, and countries need to overcome
their past wildlife management difficulties.
Unlike other continents, South American ecosystems
coevolved with other native wild pigs with similar roles into
environmental changes and conflicts with human activities. For
S. scrofa, peccaries are an important reference for the evaluation
of the impact and the establishment of conservation priorities
for alien pig control. Strategies can be divided into two parts.
First, outside the overlap range of alien and native pigs, mainly
in southern regions, such as Argentina and Chile, the priority is
invasion control. Second, the reintroduction of peccaries needs
more attention than the control of alien pigs, especially in pro-
tected areas.
Protected areas involve an extra element when it comes to
the challenges of Southern American countries in the control of
the invasion of S. scrofa. At least 91 special areas had confirma-
tion of wild boars and they impose some restrictions on control
methods. Thus, these areas should work as a source–sink model,
restocking the wild population in their surroundings. Due to
extinction, for reasons other than S. scrofa, protected areas
also lack peccaries to properly conserve the ecological process.
Therefore, the managers of those areas are faced with limitations
and dilemmas concerning both public awareness to mitigate
social and economic conflicts with their neighbours and con-
servation priorities to reintroduce native pigs that can cause the
same problems. Sometimes, this dilemma drives the decision
for unclear conservation strategies, which neither control alien
species nor revert extinction.Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the invitation of Mario Melletti and the friendly
permission of Luiz Guilherme Marins Sá to use the picture of the
cover page. CAPES and FAPERJ supported the postdoctoral fel-
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