Farmscape for June 17, 2025

The Coordinator of Squeal on Pigs Manitoba says the biggest challenge in dealing wild pigs is locating the animals.
Wild pigs, in particular escaped Eurasian wild boar, damage the landscape, eat eggs from ground nesting birds or endangered small animals and they can act as a reservoir for disease, most notably African Swine Fever.
Squeal on Pigs Manitoba Coordinator Dr. Wayne Lees says, in Manitoba, we typically receive anywhere from 120 to 150 reports per year from people who have seen signs or wild pigs directly.

Quote-Dr. Wayne Lees-Squeal on Pigs Manitoba:
What we've found in Manitoba is that our biggest challenge is actually finding the pigs, so having people report a sighting to allow us to know where to investigate further is really important for our program to be successful.
Finding the pigs requires a combination of things, like compiling the public reports, flying thermal imaging drones, we set up baiting sites and trail cameras and we are starting to embark on other things like testing water for wild pig DNA so we're using a variety of methods to be able to locate these animals.
The major focus area for the Eurasian wild boar is in the Spruce Woods area of Manitoba, which is southeast of Brandon.
There's another small population up on the northern shore of Lake Manitoba but those are pretty small in terms of their impact.
But we're really focussing our effort on what we call the hot spot so the Spruce Woods area is our major area of focus this year.

Dr. Lees notes anyone interested in learning more about the effort to eradicate wild pigs in Manitoba or to report a sighting is encouraged to visit the Squeal on Pigs website at squealonpigsmb.org.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

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