The incoming Saskatchewan Party government might want to put wild boar control on its rural legislative agenda.
Leader Brad Wall noted that his appearance at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities convention Nov. 8 pre-empted a presentation on the animal.
“Apparently I’m more familiar with the sheep industry,” he quipped, referring to an NDP advertising campaign during the recent provincial election that depicted the Saskatchewan Party as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
But while delegates laughed and Wall moved on to other topics, the matter is serious.
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Wild boars are considered domestic livestock, but they have been escaping since farmers in the province began raising them.
Free-ranging wild boars are now found in at least 60 of the province’s 296 rural municipalities, said wildlife technician Brad Tokaruk, who spoke after Wall. There could be as many as 1,000 wild boar running at large.
He told SARM delegates that in some parts of the province at least six generations have now been born outside the confines of fences. They are no longer strays because no one can claim ownership.
“They are truly feral,” he said.
“They are surviving and indeed thriving in the wild.”
One of the areas struggling with the dangerous and destructive animals is the Moose Mountain region, where wild boars have charged farmers and their cattle and damaged the provincial park campground.
Last winter, officials killed 30 females in the area in an attempt to control the population. Necropsies found that the sows were carrying a total of 276 young.
“Their ability to produce is beyond any native animal,” Tokaruk said.
Each sow will have one or two litters per year and six to 10 piglets in each litter. They can begin giving birth at one year of age.
Wild boars are also hardy. There are no diseases or predators that will control the population or wipe them out.
Coyotes will run from them, and Tokaruk said it will be interesting to see what wolves do now that boars are living in forest areas.
Wild boars cause considerable damage. Tokaruk said their persistent rooting can destroy trees, rare plants and field crops. They are omnivores and are significant predators of ground nesting birds and amphibians. They will also kill lambs and fawns.
Farmers suffer uninsured damage to their crops because wild boar aren’t considered wildlife. Crop insurance only offers wildlife damage coverage.
Tokaruk said the animals have chased cattle through fences, damaged swaths, built nests in canola fields and uprooted alfalfa.
Control methods are shooting, snaring or trapping them live.
To slow the population growth at least 70 percent of the population has to be removed in one year, Tokaruk said, but wild boar are smart, secretive and nocturnal.
“They soon learn they’re being pursued.”
He said the most effective control is to prevent continuing escapes from farms.
If animals do escape, they should be recaptured or destroyed before they have adapted to freedom.
Since 2004 wild boar have been considered dangerous strays under Saskatchewan’s stray animal legislation and can be destroyed by landowners.
However, the act says landowners must have permission from their RM administration.
“More definitive authority would be desirable,” Tokaruk said.
He said provincial departments, rural municipalities and the wild boar industry should work together to get the needed legislative change.
Manitoba has declared itself a wild boar control area, and free-ranging wild boar can be hunted at any time of year without a licence.
