Province Offers Incentive To Control Wild Boar Population

Apr 12, 2022

For a long time now, wild boar have been a threat to crops and livestock across a big swath of the prairies.

They first arrived more than 30 years ago from Europe. They were brought here by some producers as a new form of livestock but as interest dwindled and the bottom of the market fell out, some of the pigs either escaped or were simply released into the wild. The animals adapted to their environment and with very few if any natural predators, began to thrive. It's happened in other parts of the world and wild boar are often responsible for spreading diseases like PED or even African Swine Fever to other wild boar and even domestic pigs if they come in contact with them.

This week, the Alberta government launched a program that will hopefully control the population of one of the most destructive invasive species in Canada. As part of the program, the government is going to pay for the destruction of sounders, entire groups of wild boar. As many experts point out, simply killing one or two wild boar in a herd doesn't have much impact. But if an entire group or sounder is destroyed, it will have a much greater impact. Government approved trappers will receive 75 dollars per set of ears per sounder. Landowners who work with approved trappers are eligible for 75 dollars per set of ears. The Province of Saskatchewan recently stepped up their efforts to eradicate wild boar.

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