Wild pigs have terrorized the southern United States for decades, destroying farmers’ crops, preying on native species and carrying a variety of pathogens that can spread to humans. The animals have mostly stuck to warmer regions, such as Texas and Florida, but they still manage to cause an estimated $2.1 billion in damage every year.
Now, colder regions of the U.S. could soon be staring down their own swine foes: Canadian “super pigs.” These giant, intelligent hybrids of domestic pigs and wild boars are poised to invade from the north.
“We have already documented pig occurrences less than ten miles from the U.S. border. Quite honestly, I think there have already been some in Manitoba going into North Dakota for the last five or six years,” Ryan Brook, who leads the University of Saskatchewan’s Canadian Wild Pig Research Project, tells Field and Stream’s Sage Marshall. “There is no physical, biological boundary at the U.S.-Canada border. There is hardly any kind of fencing to speak of. There’s a real risk of pigs moving south into the U.S.”
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