Rural residents east of Edmonton have been asked to watch for wild pigs and report any sightings to their county office.
In June, three sightings were reported in the South Cooking Lake area, says Karen Raven, manager of agricultural operations for Strathcona County. As a result of those sightings, her office sent a letter to county residents asking for support in locating the pigs so they could take measures to control them.
Strathcona County, located between Edmonton and Elk Island National Park, is among those Alberta municipalities which still allows farmers to raise European Wild Boars, but under tight restrictions. The animals were first introduced in the 1980s as an agricultural diversion opportunity. Escapees proved to be a big problem, mustering into family groups and wreaking havoc on the landscape. Wild Boars have been banned from other counties, including Mountain View and Red Deer, to prevent the level of destruction that escaped animals can cause as they raid farms, kill wildlife and destroy riparian areas.
Researcher Ryan Brook, based at the University of Saskatchewan, described to delegates at Banff Pork Seminar in January the level of destruction feral pigs can cause along with the difficulties involved in trying to get the populations under control. Feral pigs that are now at large across the Prairie Provinces are a mix of escapees from various types of herds, including European Wild Boars and various domestic pigs. Assumptions that farm pigs could not survive Canada’s winters were badly mistaken, said Brooks. People who made those assumptions had failed to recall that the animals originated in Siberia.
While the males are solitary, the females run in family groups called sounders, which generally include a matriarch and her offspring from multiple generations.
After sending out its letter, Strathcona County met with an inspection officer from Alberta Agriculture and Forestry to discuss the sightings and the efforts the province and an Alberta Pork contractor have been making to trap feral pigs.
“They highlighted eradication efforts in the surrounding area and followed up on one sighting in the county. We received reports of other sightings by residents, which we shared with AAF to determine if it was more than one individual and to support ongoing surveillance and trapping efforts,” Raven said in an email response to Prairie Hog Country.
She said local authorities have a duty under Section 6 of the Agricultural Pest Act to take active measures to prevent the establishment of pests.

“There have been sightings in the county previously, however this year we wanted to engage with our residents to ensure we had as much information to support our surveillance and trapping efforts as the animals seemed to be moving locations very quickly,” she said.
In 2008, the province set up a $50 bounty for hunters who bagged wild pigs in hope that their numbers could be brought under control. A Red Deer Advocate article published on Sept. 20, 2016 stated that about 1,000 animals were killed through the life of program, with the short-term benefit of providing some data on where the animals were concentrating. The bounty program was scrubbed after nine years, in part because hunters were losing interest and because it became evident that they may have worsened the problem.
Hunting has been proven to be more of a detriment than an aid to eradication efforts, because it teaches the surviving animals, elusive at the best of times, to be even more cautious, AAF Inspection Officer Perry Abramenko told producers at the 2019 edition of Red Deer Swine Technology Workshop.
Karen Wickerson, Rat and Pest Program Specialist with AAF, said hunting does not significantly decrease the population of pigs that are running at large, and there is no data available on how many pigs are out there.
“Research from other jurisdictions in North America has shown trapping the whole sounder is the only successful way of eradication, combined with education of the public,” Wickerson said in response to an inquiry from Prairie Hog Country.
“Alberta Agriculture and Forestry does not have concrete numbers of the wild boar at large in Alberta. We know they have a high reproductive rate of two litters per year on average, so trapping and education of the public is the main focus of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry going forward.”
Raven said her office continues to collaborate with AAF to ensure wild pigs do not become established in Strathcona County, including inspections of registered wild boar farms to ensure they meet minimum containment standards and following up on sightings of pigs at large.
“AAF continues with their Wild boar at-large eradication that involves surveillance, trapping and euthanization of wild boars to eradicate the at-large population which will increase without coordinated and targeted efforts,” said Raven.
Sightings of loose pigs running at large in Alberta should be reported to the Ag Info Centre, aginfocentre@gov.ab.ca or phone 310-3276. •
— By Brenda Kossowan