Animals, Environment, International

Canadian Invasion! Polite But Feral Pigs Moving Toward The Northern Border

I previously warned the nation of the invasion of airborne Canadian wolves. Now, it appears that our Northern neighbor is switching back to the land attack with news of an invasion of feral pigs. They can be distinguished from our own feral pigs apparently because they are more polite and put mayo on everything.

According to the Daily Inter Lake, U.S. agriculture department’s Wildlife Services division is warning people in Montana of eight porcine Canadians crossing the border.

Notably, no one in the Democratic debate last night was prepared to address this invasion or its implications for the Republic.

In all seriousness, I am surprised that feral pigs crossings is such a concern given the large number of feral pigs in the country. These animals actually can do great deal to natural areas as I discovered spending time with rangers in Micronesia. In the United States, Eurasian or Russian wild boar was introduced into parts of the United States in the 1900s for the purpose of sport hunting. The U.S. government reports that feral swine are a combination of escaped domestic pigs and Eurasian wild boars. They are found in 35 states and are rapidly expanding their territory. There are currently over 6 million such animals.

These however are Canadian swine and we do not want their Parliament-loving, hockey-playing,  Lululemon-wearing hogs on our land.

37 thoughts on “Canadian Invasion! Polite But Feral Pigs Moving Toward The Northern Border”

  1. In the state of New York you cannot hunt feral pigs. The state is trying to capture them in groups called sounder. These are not good critters to have running around. They bring many problems when they arrive.

      1. My home state leaves culling anc capturing feral hogs up to the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. The local joke is to fix this issue, have a one-day open season on feral hogs, then after it closes, quietly give us Cajuns unlimited guns and ammunition.

    2. In Texas they can be hunted from helicopters. Which has got to beat the snot out of crouching in a blind all night.

  4. Feral hogs are no joke. They can be extremely aggressive towards dogs and sometimes people. A pig raised as a pet can be sweet as any dog, if a bit more wiry, but a wild or untamed hog can be a menace. A boar trapped my relative in the house once until her husband came home and shot it. They are an invasive alien species, and destroy the environment and crops. By digging roots, they can destroy entire plants. They can give a horse a hell of a spook. Plus they can spread diseases to livestock. They eat just about anything, including endangered species like the dusky gopher toad, and omnivorous waste is not good safe for gardening. They can not only tear up a farmer’s field, but contaminate it. They don’t just dig around; they totally trash a field while pooping all over it.

    Piglets are cute, but feral hogs do not belong here. We’ve got enough of a problem without more of them trotting down from Canada for more sunshine.

    Their rate of population growth is simply too great for hunters to keep up. There are now an estimated 7 million feral hogs in the United States. It’s gotten so bad that biologists have come up with poison bate stations that are supposed to be target species specific. I greatly dislike poison as pest control, and hope they come up with a better way.

    One of the biggest points of contention is that Europeans were successful in introducing boar as a game animal. Feral hogs, which descend from crosses of domestic hogs and European wild boar, are now very popular game for hunters. Hunters absolutely cannot keep up with the numbers. There are businesses who specialize in hog removal. However, many hunters do not want the boars completely eradicated, because the meat is quite good. It’s really different from regular grocery store pork. If people want to ranch them in an escape proof enclosure even feral hogs can’t get out of, fine, but they need to get out of the open spaces and wilds.

    Farmers vs hunters kind of reminds me of ranchers vs shepherds.

    1. These animals are very strong, very heavy and can burrow under fences. One of the original makers of Tabasco decided that his home, Avery Island, Louisiana, was so escape-proof that it wouldn’t do the country any harm to bring in mating pairs of nutria, a big foul-smelling ill-tempered rodent from South America. Guess why native populations of mink and muskrate are declining?

      Remember that when you buy a bottle of Tabasco, or think that what a nutria could do, a feral hog couldn’t improve on..

      1. loupgarous – I am in a real quandary here. I don’t like minks, muskrats or Tabasco. Do you have anything else I can boycott?

    2. Load them onto cattle trucks and drop them at the southern border wherever there is a gap in the wall. Hang a few slabs of meat to coax them to live food. Maybe they like Mexican or muslim flavors.

      Then after they have maxed out, butcher them for the tons of mexican/muslim flavored bacon.

      A Win Win Win situation

    1. This is the common room in Bedlam but I think that he moved to St. Michael’s in Toronto. 🙂

  6. Domesticated pigs become feral in only a few months in the wild. And Cindy is correct – both feral and wild hogs are extremely dangerous. They also make delicious sausage.

    2. Darren Smith – I think they are considered a pest and it is open season year round on the wild boar.

      1. shoot the border jumping swine with lawfully owned semiauto-only ak 47s in skillful civilian hands, is the obvious solution. I favor Zastava, Serbian made ones.

  9. Feral hogs are found in parts of the US, but Montana is not one of them. Adding these destructive animals into still another area should be a matter of concern.

  10. “…..feral swine are a combination of escaped domestic pigs and Eurasian wild boars. ” And they are delicious.

  11. The Danes built fencing on their southern border with German to keep out the feral hogs completely forgetting that hogs can swim and can walk on unfenced roads.

    1. Anonymous – anyone who has worked with pigs knows they are smarter than the average bear.

  13. We have javelina here in Arizona and they move in dangerous herds. Taste good though.

  15. Mmmm…I smell bacon!
    Very funny post, Professor. Thank you for the hog headsup.
    When we bought the ranch 25 years ago, we were such city folk. One weekend, we saw that one of the back pastures wast torn up like a mad tiller had descended on it. Had no idea what had happened…it was hogs, of course.
    Note of caution…..they are dangerous. If you’re walking in a creekbed, and hear a slightly thunderous roar, don’t even look back…..jump up on the banks and maybe in a tree as quickly as you can.

    1. They are so fast! The way they come charging out of the brush at someone.

      I think one of their nicknames is “rototiller.”

      1. Karen S…………yes! Rototiller is an appropriate word.
        The objective is to knock you or the prey, down, so that they can get to you easily. …and once you’re on the ground…it’s over.

Comments are closed.