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Landowner Attitudes Predicted Intentions to Manage Wild Boar Across the West Gulf Region

Feral hogs in grassland in the United States
Conservation · Management

A study of private landowners in Arkansas, USA, Louisiana and East Texas found that attitudes toward specific control actions predicted intentions to take part in management of wild boar (Sus scrofa; termed “wild pigs” in the study). The researchers analysed responses from a mail survey designed to examine landowners’ experiences with wild boar, perceptions of damage and willingness to participate in control.

Of 4,500 survey packets mailed in 2021, the study obtained 885 valid responses: 361 from Arkansas, 301 from Louisiana and 223 from East Texas. The cluster analysis identified three landowner profiles based on familiarity with wild boar, experience of damage and previous management effort. The reported clusters comprised 91 Unaware Bystanders, 217 Frontline Responders and 104 Cautious Observers.

Across the full sample, beliefs that wild boar cause environmental and economic harm were strongly associated with more favourable attitudes toward management actions. Those attitudes in turn significantly predicted stated management intentions. Perceived social expectations from other people also had a smaller significant relationship with intentions, while landowners’ confidence that they could carry out the management themselves did not significantly predict intentions across the full sample.

The authors found that the factors associated with management intentions differed among the three landowner profiles and argue that outreach and policy measures can be better targeted when these differences are recognised. The study measured intentions rather than whether respondents subsequently carried out control actions, and the authors explicitly note that the relationship between intention and actual behaviour was not evaluated.

Sources and image credit

  1. Tian, N., & Gan, J. (2026). Understanding private landowner strategies for wild pig management using cluster analysis and structural equation modeling. Scientific Reports, 16, 12095. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41507-1Primary open-access research article published 4 March 2026. A mail survey sent to 4,500 private landowners in Arkansas, Louisiana and East Texas yielded 885 valid responses. Cluster analysis identified three landowner profiles, while whole-sample structural equation modelling found attitudes toward management significantly predicted behavioural intentions; the study did not evaluate whether intentions resulted in actual management behaviour.

Image: Steve Hillebrand / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, via Wikimedia Commons — feral hogs (Sus scrofa) in the United States. Illustrative photograph, not from the landowner survey in Arkansas, Louisiana and East Texas. · Public Domain — U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service · Source

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