Thousands of exotic wild boars are rampaging across the Canadian Prairies, ravaging crops and damaging ecosystems. Efforts to control the powerful cantankerous porcines are ongoing, but are having various degrees of success. Manitoba is at the forefront because feral boar abundance in Manitoba has been, until very recently, higher than elsewhere in Canada and because control measures in Manitoba have been comparatively successful.
Wild boars are not native to the western hemisphere. They were imported into Canada to provide hunting opportunities on game farms and to supplement the livestock industry. Inevitably, some escaped to the wild and they are now firmly established in all three Prairie provinces, where they are generating serious problems. As a result, they are unanimously officially classed as "pests."
According to John Pagorzelec, a wildlife specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, feral boars "quickly adapt to living in the wild and they are very difficult to contain."
"Once on the loose, they cause both habitat and crop damage losses," he explained. "They are very elusive and cannot be easily recaptured."
According to Statistics Canada, 256 facilities in Canada keep wild boars: 24 in Manitoba, 81 in Saskatchewan and 53 in Alberta, in addition to others elsewhere. The captive boar population is about 3,000 in Manitoba, 2,000 in Alberta and 12,000 in Saskatchewan.
Estimates of wild-ranging feral boars are not all that reliable, wildlife officials admit, but in 2002, it was thought there were close to 700 wild boars on the loose in the Canadian provinces: 200 in Alberta, 50 in Saskatchewan and 250 to 450 in Manitoba. At present, numbers in Alberta have skyrocketed and there are over 1,500 in one small area currently under study.
In 2001, Manitoba Conservation declared all of Manitoba a "Wild Boar Control Area."
According to Vince Creighton, manager of Game, Fur and Problem Wildlife with Manitoba Conservation, there are currently considerably fewer feral boars in Manitoba compared with the figures of the early 2000s.
"The public has really addressed the issue," he said. That is because feral boars may be lawfully destroyed in Manitoba anywhere any time.
According to the Manitoba Wildlife and Ecosystem Protection branch, boars of several bloodlines were imported into the province in the 1980s "as an agricultural diversification initiative."
Since then, escapees have been reported "throughout southern Manitoba... where they seriously damage flora and fauna." Since 2001, Manitobans have been permitted to destroy any wild boar "found running at large anywhere in Manitoba," with the permission of the landowner, "seven days a week."
Preliminary evaluation indicates that that measure has substantially reduced the feral boar population in Manitoba.
In Saskatchewan, a wild boar eradication program has been in place since 2007.
"We are using trained trappers to search for wild boar dens and destroy all the boars encountered," Pagorzelec explained. "The program has had better success than anticipated."
"But, nonetheless, we expect Saskatchewan will have high feral boar numbers in the future due to their breeding success," he cautioned.
According to Debbie Hagman of Wild Hog Specialties in Alberta, wild boars are "very hardy" and can easily survive through tough Canadian winters in the wild.
Feral boars are prominent pests in Alberta.
"We get reports from all over central and southern Alberta," said Gordon Court, Alberta's Provincial Wildlife Statistics biologist. "They can be destroyed by anyone who encounters them."
On May 31, 2008, Alberta put into place a new law requiring landowners to report all feral boar sightings and to eradicate all feral boars they encounter on their property. Failure to do so can result in municipal action in which the boars are destroyed by municipal appointees and the landowners are subsequently charged a fee.
Wild boars were originally imported to North America in 1893, to provide hunting opportunities for sportsmen. The original stock came from Russia and Germany. Feral free-roaming descendants currently occur in 23 states, and several Canadian provinces. In the United States, boars are the second-most popular big game animals.
Boars can be up to one metre in height and weigh close to 200 kilograms. They have prominent tusks and long lower canine teeth. Most are extremely aggressive and pose a danger to pets and livestock.
Recent tests confirm they are subject to porcine asymptomatic hypochondriasis, which poses a human health risk. California Department of Fish and Game officials admit the finding was totally unanticipated. Serological studies by the Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development agency suggests that although salmonella and twoxoplasma infections are present in feral boars, they do not pose a significant human health threat.
Robert Alison is a Victoria-based wildlife biologist and writer with a PhD in zoology.
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