Fresh from Canada, a massive population of what's being described as evil "super pigs" is migrating down to the U.S. To make matters even more dire, these ferocious piggies are apparently incredibly challenging to eradicate.
From LA Times:
An exploding population of hard-to-eradicate “super pigs” in Canada is threatening to spill south of the border, and northern states including Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana are taking steps to stop the invasion.
In Canada, the wild pigs roaming Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba pose a new threat. They are often crossbreeds that combine the survival skills of the wild Eurasian boar with the size and high fertility of domestic swine to create a “super pig” that’s spreading out of control.
Ryan Brook, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan and one of Canada’s leading authorities on the problem, calls feral swine “the most invasive animal on the planet” and “an ecological train wreck.”
Pigs are not native to North America. Though they’ve roamed parts of the continent for centuries, Canada’s problem dates back only to the 1980s when it encouraged farmers to raise wild boar, Brook said. The market collapsed after peaking in 2001, and some frustrated farmers simply cut their fences, setting the animals free.
It turned out that the pigs were very good at surviving Canadian winters. Smart, adaptable and furry, they eat anything, including crops and wildlife. They tear up land when they root for bugs and crops. They can spread devastating diseases such as African swine fever to hog farms. And they reproduce quickly. A sow can have six piglets in a litter and raise two litters in a year.
Sure, this isn't a top-tier crisis, but wrangling these crazy super pigs isn't exactly helping things.
