Farmscape for June 2, 2022

The Coordinator of the Manitoba Invasive Swine Eradication Project says people are beginning to recognise the need to take control of wild pigs.
Wild pigs destroy cropland, pastures and harvested crops, they inflict significant environmental damage, they carry disease that put domestic pigs at risk, they eat just about anything from small birds and mammals to deer and they are considered the most destructive invasive large mammal on the planet.
In response, Manitoba Pork, in partnership with the federal and provincial governments, has launched an initiative designed to involve the public in the effort to bring wild pig populations under control.
Dr. Wayne Lees, the Coordinator of the Manitoba Invasive Swine Eradication Project, says there is a growing recognition of the damage these animals cause.

Clip-Dr. Wayne Lees-Manitoba Invasive Swine Eradication Project:
The "Squeal on Pigs" campaign is really geared toward raising public awareness of the threat posed by invasive wild pigs on the landscape and in cropland.
The goal of the campaign is really to make people aware of the presence of wild pigs in Manitoba and the second goal is to encourage them to report sightings of wild pigs that they see or the signs that they see that relate to wild pigs.
This program covers all of Manitoba.
The control efforts are being focussed right now in the Spruce Woods area but there are related programs in other provinces and we've been actually speaking with some of the folks in other provinces to gather their experiences, their information to try to build a coordinated effort across the country.

Dr. Lees says information gathered through the web site, located at squealonpigsmb.org, or through the 1-833-spot-pigs toll free number will help build a picture of where these pigs are located and where more intensive surveillance or control measures are needed.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers