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population explosion’babi super‘ occurs in Canada and is difficult to eradicate. There is even the potential that this animal, which is categorized as a pest, will spread to US states such as Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana.
In Canada, wild boar roaming in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba pose a threat. They are often crossbreeds that combine the survival skills of wild Eurasian boars with the size and high fecundity of domestic pigs. So the animal was nicknamed ‘super pig’ and its spread was out of control.
Ryan Brook, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan and one of Canada’s leading experts on the issue, calls feral pigs “the most invasive animal on the planet” and an “ecological disaster.”
Pigs are not native to North America. Although they have roamed the continent for centuries, the problem in Canada only emerged in the 1980s when the country encouraged farmers to raise wild pigs. The market collapsed after peaking in 2001 and some frustrated farmers released the animals.
It turns out pigs are good at surviving Canadian winters. Smart and adaptable, they eat anything, including plants and wildlife. Quoted by detikINET from the Associated Press, they can also spread deadly diseases to pig farms such as African swine fever.
And they reproduce quickly. According to Brook, poaching actually makes the problem worse. Hunter success rates are only about 2% to 3% and some states have banned hunting because it makes hogs more alert and nocturnal. They become more difficult to track and eradicate.
Feral pigs cause USD 2.5 billion worth of damage to American crops each year, most of it in southern states like Texas. And they can be aggressive towards humans. A woman in Texas was killed by a wild boar in 2019.
Feral hog eradication is no longer possible in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. But some US states have managed to eliminate it. The key, according to Brook, is to have a system that can detect them and then respond quickly.
Aerial surveys show the wild boars are already on both sides of the Canada-North Dakota border. They also recorded sightings in Manitoba within 28 kilometers of Minnesota.
Brook said Montana is the most serious state in preventing the introduction of wild hogs, banning the raising and transport of wild hogs in the state. “The only way forward is you have to be really aggressive and you have to use all the tools at your disposal,” Brook said.
Large land traps or net guns fired from helicopters can help. Some states implement tracking programs that are crowdsourced. Scientists have also studied toxins such as sodium nitrite, but they risk harming other species.
Watch the video “Wild boars enter the runway at Toraja Airport, causing a stir!”
(fyk/rns)
2023-11-22 22:45:22
#Scary #Super #Wild #Boar #Population #Control
