An exploding population of hard-to-eradicate “super pigs” in Canada is threatening to spill south of the border, and northern states like Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana are taking steps to stop the invasion.

In Canada, the wild pigs roaming Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba pose a new threat. They are often crossbreeds that combine the survival skills of wild Eurasian boars with the size and high fertility of domestic swine to create a “super pig” that’s spreading out of control.

Ryan Brook, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan and one of Canada’s leading authorities on the problem, calls feral swine, “the most invasive animal on the planet” and “an ecological train wreck.”

  • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 months ago

    In many states it is, not just northern. Iirc Texas will pay you to take an AR into a field and take out as many as you can. People even organize hunts from helicopters hunting herds like they should have Fortunate Son playing (no full auto though just ARs and typically BYOAR and ammo iirc.)

              • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                11 months ago

                Well you’d need an AR-10 lower, upper, BCG, dust cover, barrel, barrel nut, handguard, bolt catch, gas block, buffer weight, lpk, mag catch (unless DPMS AR-10, they fit the AR-15 mag catch), and muzzle device, making it an AR-10.

                The triggers, hammers, stocks, grips, tubes, mag rel buttons, and safties are interchangable though, yes.

      • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 months ago

        Not in the US, unless you have proof I haven’t seen. They literally don’t need to, as per the article they already breed faster in the wild than we can kill them, seems like a waste of money to breed them when you can just use the wild ones that are already there.

        • rekliner@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          They are bred with domestic pigs so they have less survival instinct and the clients can find them (i.e. they don’t avoid blinds and feeders). One-off clients would give your ranch bad reviews if they didn’t see anything all weekend. Meanwhile regular hunters understand truly wild animals can elude you for days. If a visiting group has come up dry all weekend they might even release a sacrificial domestic pig (just out of sight) that will then walk right towards the clients, innocently arranging it’s own death. Source: am Texan who hunted pigs.

            • rekliner@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              “just out of sight” was an exaggeration. They could be on the other end of the property to release a pig and its going to head towards the feed and the people… Just like a hungry dog would. Also, blinds usually face a single direction.

        • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I am just shocked. The South is pretty freaken good at authentic BBQ and they have a wild boar problem. Can’t you guys just like eat them all?

          • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            11 months ago

            I mean it isn’t like none get eaten, just not all of them. It isn’t just regular hunting, it’s basically an Emu War but instead of the Aus military it’s militias of angry farmers tired of hogs tearing up their crops.

          • Cianalas@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            They reach maturity fast, are basically always fertile, short gestational periods, and have large litters. It’s like trying to eradicate mice/rats by shooting them.