earticle

영어

In October 2019, Korea confronted with the first African Swine Fever(ASF) cases in wild boar. Although Korea placed enormous efforts, including installing fences, hunting wild boars, and removing infected carcasses immediately to slow down the spread of ASF, ASF in wild boar rapidly expanded throughout northern Korea. As of April 2021, a total of 1,312 cases occurred in 13 cities/counties. World organization for animal health noted that the spread of ASF is closely related to the wild boar density, and management of the wild population is inevitable for ASF prevention because no vaccine nor cure is currently available. Therefore, understanding the population density in and around the ASF outbreak areas is essential for systematic population control. Different methods such as drive counts, snow tracking, pallet counts, and distance sampling have been used to estimate the abundance or density of wild boars. We compared these methods with respect to different conditions. Among various methods, using camera traps with statistical analyses can estimate the density with high accuracy and precision. Camera trapping also allows collecting additional ecological data such as activity patterns related to hunting and occupancy. However, considering the mountainous landscape in Korea, the installation effort could be overwhelming. A reliable density estimate will help set hunting numbers to manage the wild boar population and contribute to eradicating ASF in Korea.