Post by Murph on Jan 20, 2023 8:00:25 GMT -6
Population Explosion of Canadian "Super Pigs" Could Spread Into the Northern U.S.
The U.S. may soon have a new wild pig problem. Until now, the invasive species has largely proliferated in warm places like the southeast, Texas, and California. But in recent years, invasive pigs have started thriving in Canada and may spread into North Dakota, Montana, Michigan, and Minnesota.
According to Dr. Ryan Brook, who leads the University of Saskatchewan's Canadian Wild Pig Research Project, Canada's wild pig problem is relatively new. "The U.S. has a 400-plus year history with invasive wild pigs, but we didn’t have any here until the early 1980s," he says. "There was a big push to diversify agriculture with species like wild boards and ostriches. Wild boars were brought in from Europe to be raised on farms across Canada.”
Most of those pigs were kept on meat farms, but some were used on high-fence hunting preserves. Many farmers and ranchers soon crossbred the wild boars with domestic pigs. According to Brook, the hybridization resulted in bigger "super pigs" that could survive in cold climates. "For surviving in cold winters, one of the rules of ecology is: the bigger the better," he says. "Larger body animals survive the cold better and have better reproduction in those conditions.”
www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/population-explosion-of-canadian-super-pigs-could-spread-into-the-northern-u-s/ar-AA16ucE2?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=7592dd9b8c5b49438aa9d390ed640658