In 2024 Squeal on Pigs Manitoba had a successful year in trapping wild pigs with pig removal numbers being significantly higher totaling over 200 animals.
Doctor Wayne Lees, Coordinator for Squeal on Pigs Manitoba, says this is quite a jump from the year before, and with that they've been able to capture more field data and better understand the characteristics and habits of these wild pigs.
"Collecting this field data has really paid off, the fact that we're starting to measure some of these things," he says. "So, for each pig that we remove, we try to get a weight estimate and an age estimate. And we're beginning to put that information together to give us a better picture of how the population behaves and how it grows."
Lees says the colder winter weather has been good for their pig trappers as they are easier to find. "Once spring comes the pigs tend to disperse into larger areas and then it becomes more difficult.
"These findings .... lead us to a lot more optimism that we can eradicate these invasive animals from Manitoba."
"We've done some analysis of our last three years of field data and found that the assumptions made about wild pigs in the US don't really translate to our situation in Canada," explains Dr. Lees. "Our pigs tend to stay in smaller groups, they don't reproduce nearly as quickly as initially thought and that leads us to a lot more optimism that we can eradicate these invasive animals from Manitoba."
Manitoba's colder winter weather is definitely an advantage when it comes to controlling the population of this invasive species.
"Young pigs born in early or midwinter may have a hard time surviving until springtime. We also find that the breeding age of these animals is much later than what we first anticipated. A commercial sow will start to breed at 6 months of age and then they'll have 2 litters a year. In the wild, Eurasian wild boar we think it takes at least a year to start breeding, and we're beginning to doubt whether they can have more than one litter a year. And their litter size on average is about half of what a commercial pig would have."
When it comes to hunting versus trapping, Dr. Lees says they're sharing the message throughout the province for landowners to call their organization first because they've had great success in First Encounter Removal Rate, which is the number of pigs removed the first time a person comes across a group, or sounder, of wild pigs. The success of this is through alerting Squeal on Pigs where they've been sighted.
Lees says hunters can take one or two animals but then scatter the rest, making it difficult to find them again after that. And that kind of activity tends to push the pigs into other areas, areas that may not be infested with wild pigs until then.
Spruce Woods still continues to be the hotspot for wild pigs, and they've been focusing their removal efforts in that area. However, there have been sightings and efforts to trap them in other parts of the province. Wild pigs prefer where parkland butts up against agricultural areas as these areas provides them with food and shelter.
Squeal on Pigs is using technology to zero in on wild pigs through partnership with Assiniboine College and BDX Laboratories in Winnipeg.
"The success of the program is through the public alerting Squeal on Pigs where they've been sighted."
"They've developed the first test for determining environmental DNA from wild pigs in streams," explains Dr. Lees. "The USD had done that but the methodology that they used didn't work in our situation and so we've now developed a test that will work in our circumstances to identify from stream water if wild pigs have been using that that stream."
"The other thing that we use a lot in terms of trying to find pigs, are thermal imaging drones," he adds. "So, all of our technicians have access to those drones and so we can fly above and scout an area like a river valley or cornfields and identify pigs through the body heat that they give off, and that's really been a game changer for us."
Squeal on Pigs feels they can eradicate wild pigs from the Manitoba landscape, but it is only through the partnership with the public to report any sightings of pigs or signs of their activity.
"What points us to presence of pigs are things like rooting in the pastures. So, what a pasture will look like when pigs start to root in it, it looks like a rotor rooter went through it. And so, if you see a patch of wild grass or pasture where it looks like it's been plowed, or rotor tilled that's a very good sign that pigs are there."
For more information and to report sightings or signs of wild pigs, please visit their website HERE.
To view the 2024 Program Update which includes more details and photos, please click HERE