From Live Science: Canadian ‘super pigs’ are likely to invade northern US, study warns
Canadian ‘super pigs’ are likely to invade northern US, study warns
Sascha Pare, May 28, 2024
There is “high potential” for hogs that have gone feral in Canada to cross into South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Minnesota, where the pigs could inflict billions of dollars in damage.
The feral pigs are a mixed population of domestic swine (Sus scrofa domesticus), wild boar (Sus scrofa) — which were introduced to Canada in the late 1980s for meat and recreational shooting — and hybrids of the two, according to the Canadian Council on Invasive Species. Keepers released the boars and some pigs when the market for boar meat plunged in the early 2000s, thinking that the animals wouldn’t survive the harsh Canadian prairie winter and deep snow, according to the new study. But instead, the pigs thrived.