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.”

  • trash80@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      32
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      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
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      27
      ·
      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
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        17
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        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
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          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
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          11 months ago

          Time to allow hunters to bring in M60 machine guns.

          Ironically they are nicknamed “the pig”.

      • AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        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.