Invasive feral hogs and chronic wasting disease are already major challenges for wildlife managers, and new research suggests the two threats may overlap in a way that could make protecting deer populations even more difficult in parts of the United States.
That concern reaches beyond conservation policy. When deer herds face greater risks, hunting traditions, local economies, and communities that depend on healthy wildlife populations can all feel the effects.
Here's what to know
In the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, researchers reported that feral hogs can pick up chronic wasting disease prions while scavenging deer carcasses.
Summarizing the study, Outdoor Life said there are still no confirmed examples of feral hogs themselves developing the fatal neurologic illness.
The study warned that the "findings indicate that scavenging swine could play a role in disseminating CWD and could therefore influence its epidemiology, geographic distribution, and interspecies spread."
Researchers also noted, "Persistent shedding of prions by CWD-affected animals and resulting environmental contamination is considered a major route of transmission contributing to spread of the disease."
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The National Deer Association's 2026 Deer Report found that 13 states permit feral hogs and cervids to share the same enclosure or high-fence facility, 16 permit the transport of live feral hogs, and 10 permit live feral hog imports.
Ben Westfall, senior conservation coordinator at the National Deer Association, said, "We were actually kind of surprised how many facilities did allow commingling of pigs and cervids behind high fences."
More background
Moving live animals can spread risk beyond a single property or county. If hogs pick up CWD prions in one place and are then transported elsewhere, that could create another pathway for the disease to move across landscapes already under pressure.
Nearly 19% of wild hogs in the United States had been moved at some point, per the study. Texas and Oklahoma, states that permit enclosed contact between hogs and deer, are major sources of hog movement.
Researchers identified Texas-origin pigs in 26 of the 38 states examined and concluded that the state "has a disproportionate impact on the spread of feral swine."
Among the 48 states and eight provinces surveyed by the National Deer Association, Saskatchewan is the only one that currently tests feral hogs for CWD.
What can be done?
Westfall said, "A lot of states are taking effort to minimize or mitigate the spread of wild hogs by making importation or transportation illegal."
The National Deer Association has also urged states to stop allowing hogs and cervids to mix in captive settings, especially now that research suggests feral hogs can move prions across the landscape. Limiting commingling and reducing animal transport could help close off one possible route for disease spread.
Westfall also pointed to approaches such as whole-sounder removal and Missouri's Feral Hog Elimination Partnership as examples of effective programs.
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