The public has proven to be pretty good at squealing on pigs, shown by a reported increase in invasive wild hogs spotted and killed in the last year.
“The more folks we have working on it, the greater success we will have,” said Jenelle Hamblin, manager of swine health at the Manitoba Pork Council.
At the group’s annual meeting April 13, Hamblin told producers the “Squeal on Pigs” campaign has raised public awareness of the threat of wild pigs in Manitoba.
Read Also
Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer dies
Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer, who helped grow his family’s company into a string of farm equipment dealerships and the main dealer for New Holland machinery in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, died July 6 from cancer.
Why it matters: Problems in Europe, where wild pigs are a vector for African swine fever, and the U.S., where they cost producers an estimated US$1.5 billion each year, are grim object lessons in what Manitoba wants to avoid.
Of 127 sightings, 122 wild pigs had been trapped or hunted in 2022, she said. This is up from 2021, though she did not specify how many wild hogs had been killed that year.
A booming wild pig population in the province is of increasing concern to the agricultural community as a vector for disease and a cause of crop and property damage.
Last May the pork council, with support from the provincial and federal governments, launched the Squeal on Pigs public awareness campaign to complement a wild pig eradication project also announced in early 2022.
Staff used media coverage, advertising and appearances at events like Brandon’s Royal Manitoba Winter Fair to spread information about the invasive species. They also launched a website, app and hotline to report sightings.
Sightings went up in conjunction with increased publicity, Hamblin said.
People were intrigued for various reasons, according to Susan Reise, the pork council’s director of public relations.
“[Some] people were terrified and wanted to know if the pigs were going to be in, you know, their back yard,” she said. “Then others wanted to just know where they were so they could hunt them.”
Not every pig spotted was wild. Some people reported pastured, farmed hogs, Wayne Lees, co-ordinator for the eradication project, told the Co-operator last fall.
Research and field work progressed as well, Hamblin said. For example, in September, the eradication team purchased a thermal imaging drone to survey hard-to-reach areas.
Lees also pushed for greater national co-ordination. The Manitoba project partnered with a similar Alberta group to trial sniffer dogs.
Hamblin said the hope is to continue the Squeal on Pigs campaign into 2023 and beyond, depending on funding.
