Recently, a hybrid wild boar known as a "super pig" has attracted attention. This wild boar is the offspring of wild boars and domestic boars, and has both the ability of wild boars to adapt to the wild environment and the high fecundity of domestic pigs, and is considered "the most aggressive animal on the planet" and an "ecological disaster". They are widespread in Canada's southern provinces and have the potential to spread to the northern states of the United States, posing a serious threat to the environment, agriculture and human security.
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According to reports, the origin of this wild boar can be traced back to the 80s of the last century, when Canada**, in order to develop the meat industry, strongly encouraged farmers to raise Eurasian wild boars and crossbreed them with domestic pigs to improve meat quality and production. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, due to declining market demand and many farmers were unable to continue breeding these hybrid pigs, they were released and left to fend for themselves. Initially, it was thought that this hybrid pig would not survive in the harsh cold of Canada, but it has proven that they are not only able to adapt to a variety of climates and terrains, but also reproduce quickly, forming large wild boar herds.
These wild boar herds have spread across the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and even crossed the southern border of Canada into the northern states of Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana in the United States. They wreak havoc on local ecosystems by trampling and eating crops, destroying farmland and pastures, digging up soil, destroying vegetation and water sources, and affecting soil quality and quality. In addition, they prey on and drive away other wildlife, destroy biodiversity, and even spread diseases such as African swine fever, which also pose a threat to human health and safety. According to statistics, the agricultural losses caused by wild boars in the United States are as high as $2.5 billion every year, and there are also cases of deaths due to wild boar attacks.
Faced with this situation, both Canada and the United States are taking various measures to try to control the number and impact of super pigs. For example, Professor Brooke, an expert at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, and his team set up a monitoring system that collected and analyzed more than 620,000 wild boar sightings were reported to understand their distribution and behavior. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has used airplanes and drones to increase monitoring of the northern border, and states** have adopted methods such as setting up large ground traps, setting up tracking programs, researching pesticides against wild boars, and even advocating open hunting to encourage people to participate in the eradication of wild boars.
However, the effect of these measures is not obvious, and experts say that it is no longer possible to eradicate this wild boar, and it can only be detected as soon as possible and respond quickly. Because wild boars reproduce so quickly, their numbers will increase even if 65% of the total number of wild boars are removed each year. Moreover, wild boars are very intelligent and vigilant, they will evade human pursuit, and even switch from daytime to nocturnal activity, making them more difficult to track. In addition, hunting wild boars can also have some negative consequences, such as increased human-boar conflict, or causing wild boars to mutate genetically, making them more adaptable to the wild environment.
Therefore, super pigs are likely to become a long-term problem for Canada and the United States, and it is necessary to strengthen international cooperation and scientific research to find more effective solutions.