Wild boar are gaining a foothold in Canada, destroying crops and natural habitats and spreading disease. There is currently no unified strategy to control feral pigs in the country.
According to Dr. Ryan Brook, Associate Professor of Agricultural and Biological Resources Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, intelligent and social, aggressive and highly destructive feral pigs are a problem on every continent except Antarctica.
Destroyer
Wild boars destroy natural habitats by uprooting seedlings and roots of native flora, compacting soil and allowing invasive plant species to flourish. They eat worms, insects, small mammals, eggs and chicks of ground-nesting birds and reptiles, roots, ground vegetation, seeds and berries. It also destroys crops, preys on farm animals and contaminates water.
Wild boars spread foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever (ASF). Experts are sounding the alarm bells because the spread of the ASF virus in domestic pigs would mean a virtual shutdown of Canada’s global pork trade.
The first wild boars were introduced into Canada from Europe in 1990 to diversify the range of agricultural livestock, as well as for recreational hunting. Many of them have escaped from their enclosures. In the early 2000s, when wild boar meat became unmarketable, farmers simply released the animals.
In more than 750.000 km²
According to a national study published in Nature Scientific Reports, Canada’s feral pig herd has increased by 9% annually since 1990. By 2017, wild boar had spread across the country, from British Columbia to Ontario and Quebec, with the largest increase in Saskatchewan. In this province, wild boar territory is expanding by around 88 000 km2 each year. In the Canadian prairies, they cover more than 750 000 km2.
Inside rural areas, it is easy for wild boar to find suitable landscapes. They prefer areas with energy-rich crops and forests and relatively low predator densities. According to Mr Brook, the only solution is an effective wildlife control programme.
In 2021, the province of Ontario implemented a strategy that includes a record of escaped farms and wild boars. Not only are animals registered, but entire herds are also trapped and destroyed. According to Mr Brook, the population has been reduced and it is hoped to eradicate wild boar in Ontario within the next 40 years. Unfortunately, other provinces with more serious boar problems do not have similar programmes.
In Canada, there are rules that allow the hunting of wild boar at any time of the year without a limit, as this is considered to be the only control measure. The provincial government of Alberta has offered to pay USD 75 for a pair of boar ears, but no takers have come forward in the last year.