Saskatchewan places moratorium on boar farming, says escaped boars should be killed

Saturday, March 14, 2009 

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The Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) is the wild ancestor of the domestic pig.
Image: Richard Bartz Makro Freak.

At the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) conference, a resolution was passed that encourages the Government of Saskatchewan, Canada to place a moratorium on specialty livestock farms raising wild boar. All wild boars that have escaped to roam wild should be killed, according to the resolution.

Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud endorses a ban on wild boar farming. The wild boar population is expanding exponentially. There are over 2,000 feral Sus scrofa swine roaming the prairies. Two litters of approximately 12 piglets are sired by each wild boar sow every year. The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation (SWF) likewise passed a similar resolution at their 79th annual convention to urge the Saskatchewan Government to declare the wild boar as a nuisance species which can be killed on sight.

3% of farmed "wild" boars escape. Cells of wild boars are ravenous creatures killing and eating everything in their path. Horses, cows, and other livestock run from wild boars, breaking through fences in the process.

Ostriches, emus, llamas, alpacas, reindeer, wild boar, and fallow deer were amongst the animals introduced to farms in Saskatchewan during the agricultural diversification program in the late 1970s. Production of wild boars was promoted throughout the 1980s.

According to the Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food 2001 statistics, there were 150 wild boar producers raising approximately 15,000 and 20,000 head. Of these there were about 2,700 sows. On the 2006 Census of Agriculture, 401 farms reported 4,926 boars.

The boar's red meat is an export commodity to Europe and Asia. The live breeding stock are also sold to trophy hunt ranches. Full blooded wild boar and hybrid crosses are raised.

Sources

• Patrick White. "Saskatchewan farmers battle infestation of insidious boars" — Globe and Mail, March 11, 2009
• "Wild boars plaguing Saskatchewan farmers" — United Press International, Inc., March 11, 2009
• "Sask. agriculture minister pledges action on wild boars" — CBC.ca, March 11, 2009
• "SWF 79th Annual Convention Highlights" — Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, March 11, 2009
• Murray S. Feist. "Specialized livestock" — Canadian Plains Research Centre University of Regina, 2006
• Statistics Canada. "2006 Census of Agriculture" — Government of Canada, 2006