A modified bait for oral delivery of biological agents to raccoons and feral swine

A field study was conducted on Ossabaw Island (Georgia, USA) in March 1994 to evaluate four different types of bait for delivering orally effective biological agents to raccoons (Procyon lotor) and feral swine (Sus scrofa). A deep-fried corndog batter bait, which was previously shown to be ingested by both captive and free-ranging raccoons, and a polymer fishmeal bait which had been shown effective for both raccoons and feral swine were compared with a grain-based dog food meal polymer bait topically coated with corn oil and cornmeal or with fish oil and fishmeal. Tracking stations were used to determine the number of each bait type visited and removed by animals visiting stations. We found no significant differences in the numbers of different baits removed by either species. These data support the results of earlier studies which also indicated that an inexpensive grain-based matrix bait surface-coated with attractive flavors can be used to deliver oral biologics to problem species.