Assess the potential for feral swine wallows to serve as a foci of disease transmission to livestock, domestic animals, wildlife, and people

The Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service awarded a $240,262 Cooperative Agreement to the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc. on September 15, 2025, under the Wildlife Services program (CFDA 10.028).

The award funds microbiological sampling to quantify Salmonella spp. and Leptospira spp. prevalence within feral swine wallows and carriage rates among species that interact with these sites, evaluation of Salmonella serovar persistence under different wallow conditions, and deployment of camera trap networks to document species interactions (feral swine, livestock, wildlife, and people) with wallow sites as a measure of disease transmission risk. The recipient will deliver progress reports describing pathogen prevalence at wallow sites and detection in feral swine and other species using the sites, culminating in peer-reviewed publications that characterize spillover risk of disease from feral swine to livestock, people, and native wildlife. The intended beneficiaries are livestock producers, natural resources managers, and public health officials.

Work is performed in Athens, Georgia. The period of performance runs through September 14, 2026. No subawards are anticipated.

To address the project objectives, the recipients will: a) conduct microbiological sampling to quantify salmonella SPP. And leptospira SPP. Prevalence within wallows and carriage rates among the species that interact with these specific microsites, B) evaluate the persistence of salmonella serovars under different wallow conditions, and C) use a network of camera traps to document species (feral swine, livestock, wildlife, people) interactions with wallow sites, which conveys a risk of disease transmission. The recipient will provide a series of progress reports describing prevalence of pathogens at wallow sites and detection in both feral swine and other species that use (e.g., drinking, bathing) the wallow site. The work will culminate in peer-reviewed publications that more fully describe the spillover risk of disease from feral swine to livestock, people, and native wildlife. The intended beneficiaries are livestock producers, natural resources managers, and public health officials as the research more fully elucidates the risk of disease spillover from feral swine. No subawards are anticipated