HOLLAND, Man. — Manitoba’s wild pig-busters have moved fast to find, trap and destroy the monsters since they got set up a couple of years ago.
They aim to entirely eliminate the invasive beast in just a few years.
Related story: Man. wild pig control requires different strategy
“It’ll probably take most of a decade,” said Wayne Lees, head of Manitoba’s Squeal on Pigs.
“We will get on top of it.”
Read Also
Weigum’s work with Alect Seeds earns her Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmer award
Three Hills farmer earns Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmers award through marketing of Alect Seeds to bring the best varieties and crop types to their customers and improve the quality of the land they farm.
Their ability to move fast and have confidence in a goal some feel is hopeless comes, they believe, 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, who is a former chief veterinary officer for Manitoba.
“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’s arm’s-length reality means it can adapt and change quickly.
Since its inception, it has experimented with various trap designs used in the United States and found what elements work and which don’t. It then developed made-in-Manitoba solutions that best fit the harsh northern environment.
It has developed maps and modelling of sitings. It intends to dynamically battle the wild pigs, which are a hybrid species produced through the interbreeding of wild boars, escaped domestic pigs and whatever feral hogs are out there.
Other provinces do it differently.
In Alberta, the agriculture department has taken the lead, with its key person organizing 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 pigs.
British Columbia is getting going with control efforts with the agriculture department working 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.
