Glacier FarmMedia – Manitoba’s wild pig busters have moved fast to find, trap and destroy the invasive species since their Squeal on Pigs initiative was set up a few years ago.
The aim is to eliminate Manitoba’s wild pig problem. They have a lot of work ahead.
“It’ll probably take most of a decade,” said Wayne Lees, head of Squeal on Pigs in the province. “We will get on top of it.”
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Why it matters: Wild pigs don’t have as much foothold in Manitoba as they do in some other provinces, but they are multiplying and hot zones have been identified in some areas.
Members feel their ability to move fast, and have confidence in a goal that some feel is hopeless, comes from their freedom to act.
“We’re not government, so we don’t have to go through all those government hoops to do things,” said Lees, a former chief veterinary officer for the province. “We’re very flexible.”
Squeal on Pigs is organized under the umbrella of the Manitoba Pork Council and receives funding from the hog industry, the federal government and other sources. However, it operates at arm’s-length.
Since its inception, the program has experimented with various trap designs used in the United States to find what works in a harsh northern environment. It then developed made-in-Manitoba solutions.
Squeal on Pigs has developed maps and modelling of sightings. It intends to do battle with the wild pigs, which are a hybrid species produced through the interbreeding of wild boar and escaped domestic pigs.
At the Manitoba Pork Council annual general meeting in April 2023, the initiative reported that the public reported 127 sightings in 2022, and 122 pigs were hunted or trapped.
Regional differences
Other provinces do it differently.
In Alberta, the agriculture department has taken the lead in the wild pig fight. Its key contact person organizes county authorities to co-ordinate local efforts.
In Saskatchewan, the government’s crop insurance agency runs the control program.
Ontario mostly combats wild pigs through its natural resources department, although its focus is on escaped pigs rather than wild ones.
British Columbia is starting control efforts, in which the agriculture department works with the Canadian Council on Invasive Species.
Lees thinks Manitoba’s model, with industry organizing control efforts, is a definite advantage for the coming struggle to eradicate the pest species.
“We can operate pretty independently and very quickly because that’s how industry operates,” said Lees.
– Ed White is a reporter for The Western Producer.
