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A B.C. invasive species society is sounding the alarm over feral pigs after reports that domestic pigs escaped captivity during last year’s wildfire season.
Robyn Hooper, Executive Director of the Columbia Shuswap Invasive Species Society, has called on residents to keep an eye out for wandering pigs in the region.
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“The summer of 2023 saw many wildfires in the Columbia Shuswap region,” Hooper said. “These fires destroyed fencing and likely allowed for pigs to escape captivity. The number of pigs still in the wild following this outbreak is unknown, which raises concern for the possibility of feral pig populations beginning.”
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Hooper said that once wild pig populations are formed they have negative environmental, economic, and health impacts.
For example, there are wild pig populations in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba that came from pigs that were imported from the U.K. in the early 1980s to breed with existing stock to boost size and fertility.
When the pork market collapsed, some of these hybrids escaped or were released into the wild — a mistake that has had devastating consequences, according to Professor Ryan Brook from the University of Saskatchewan.
“As far as Canada goes, I couldn’t imagine a worse animal being released into the environment. It eats crops, destroys fences, can attack and harass livestock, destroy water quality, eat almost anything and carry disease,” Brook said.
“Unfortunately, 2023 was by far the worst year I’ve seen on the Canadian prairies overall. We are in the middle of a crisis.”
In the U.S., where the Spanish introduced pigs 400 years ago, their descendants cause about $2.5 billion a year in crop damage.
Brook said that Alberta was ahead of the other Prairie provinces in recognizing the dangers of feral pigs, even introducing a program called Squeal On Pigs to help track the pigs and root out their destructive behaviour.
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Paige Kuczmarski, spokesperson for the Alberta Invasive Species Council, said since the campaign was launched 303 boars have been removed, but the animals remain very difficult to track.
Hooper said that feral pigs were a combination of wild boars, escaped domestic pigs, and hybrid offspring of the two.
“Feral pigs threaten wildlife through predation and decrease biodiversity by outcompeting with native species. Disruptive rooting and wallowing behaviours increase erosion in aquatic environments,” she said.
“They cause major economic losses through crop and infrastructure damage, and transmit diseases to humans, livestock, and wildlife.”
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