An exploding population of hard-to-eradicate “super pigs” in Canada is threatening to spill south of the border, and northern states like Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana are taking steps to stop the invasion.

In Canada, the wild pigs roaming Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba pose a new threat. They are often crossbreeds that combine the survival skills of wild Eurasian boars with the size and high fertility of domestic swine to create a “super pig” that’s spreading out of control.

Ryan Brook, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan and one of Canada’s leading authorities on the problem, calls feral swine, “the most invasive animal on the planet” and “an ecological train wreck.”

  • khannie@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Unfortunately they’ll still see population growth…

    That means 65% or more of a wild pig population could be killed every year and it will still increase, Brook said. Hunting just makes the problem worse, he said. The success rate for hunters is only about 2% to 3% and several states have banned hunting because it makes the pigs more wary and nocturnal — tougher to track down and eradicate.

    • Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net
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      11 months ago

      They are clever animals. You have to play the long con if you want to deal with their populations. Ive seen things where they actually feed them and gradually pen them in and the liquidate the whole drove.

      • Jaysyn@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        My family in GA does a lot of this. They are farmers & have been successful in keeping feral hogs out of their fields. Hunting & trapping absolutely does work, you just have to know what the hell you’re doing.

    • trash80@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      11 months ago

      The success rate for hunters is only about 2% to 3%

      What does that mean? What is the definition of success?

      • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        A hunter does not need to make 33 to 50 trips to get one kill (a 2% - 3% success rate). Clearly the definition of success here is whack.

      • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        One would assume success means killing an animal when you go out on the hunt. 2-3% seems ludicrously low though, i grew up hunting in southern Illinois to feed our family and the success rate for deer was easily ten times that number on a bad year

        • Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I think it means that when they go out and shoot a pig or two, that’s only 2-3% of the herd

          • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Gotcha, but if 10 hunters in the herds area do that for a week straight, no more herd as intended right? Or just say open season on the invasive wild hogs and the hunters will go kill enough to fill their deep freezes and will go do it again as soon as stock starts running out

          • ours@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Time to allow hunters to bring in M60 machine guns.

            Ironically they are nicknamed “the pig”.

        • AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml
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          11 months ago

          The issue with vermin animals that have free range licenses is that you get a lot of people that have no idea what they’re doing, usually teenagers, out there that teach the animals to avoid humans.

    • Candelestine@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I shoulda opened the article instead of just reading the synopsis. That is concerning.

      I’ll point out though, that since it’s a new prey animal to the area, it will take time for the locals to learn how to hunt it effectively. It’s behavior needs to be learned first, so effective approaches can be devised.

      But … delicious, economical and challenging is also something a hunter might find interesting.

    • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      All the more bacon! And something useful to do for all those trigger-happy Americans.

    • interceder270@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      People have been setting up cages with bait and trapping them by the dozens.

      You’re blowing this way out of proportion.