Where Canada’s ‘super pigs’ are most likely to invade the US — and potentially cause millions of dollars in damage

• Researchers say Canadian super pigs, a cross of between domestic pigs and wild boars, could invade the US.
• They can withstand more cold than wild hogs, which already cause billions in damage in the South.
• Areas of four northern US states are the most likely to be invaded by super pigs, a new study found.

Researchers have warned that Canadian “super pigs” could soon invade the US, potentially causing millions of dollars in damage — and four states in particular are especially at risk.

The so-called super pigs are a cross between a domestic pig and an Eurasian wild boar, brought to Canada in the 1980s as a new exotic pork product. Farmers eventually bred the two types of swine to make pigs that were larger, more prolific, and could withstand cold Canadian winters.

But when the boar market collapsed in 2001, many of the pigs were let loose, leaving the wild, super-charged pigs to proliferate. Today, they are common in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba and have been documented in most Canadian provinces.

“They are the worst invasive large mammal on the planet. Period,” Ryan Brook, a wildlife researcher and professor at the University of Saskatchewan who has studied the pigs for over a decade, said last year.

A study published this month in the journal Biological Invasions found that northeastern Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and western parts of Minnesota are the areas in the US most vulnerable to super pig occupation.

The researchers used data from GPS collars on feral pigs to follow their movement patterns and determine their invasion potential. They found the pigs were mostly located in forests, fields of crops, and wetlands. The pigs’ apparent preferences and the opportunities for habitat connectivity indicate those areas of the northern US have “a high potential for invasive wild pigs” to move throughout them, the study said.

“Our work highlights a need for monitoring and science-based response strategies for likely southward spread of this invasive species to prevent or reduce potential crop damage, risks to native species, and disease transmission to humans, pets, livestock, and wildlife,” the researchers wrote.

Feral pigs

Feral pigs, like these shown in 1999 in Stephensville, Texas, can be found throughout the South. Rodger Mallison/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service/Getty Images
Brook called the super pigs an “environmental train wreck.” They can grow to over 600 pounds and eat just about anything, preying on native species like frogs and salamanders, the eggs of ground-nesting birds like ducks and geese, and even white-tailed deer. They destroy agricultural crops, especially corn, by eating them or tearing up the ground to access plant roots and insect larvae. They also carry diseases that can infect animals and people.

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The resulting destruction adds up. According to USDA estimates, feral pigs already cause $2.5 billion worth of damage to US agriculture annually.

Those pigs, located in California and throughout the South, primarily Texas and Florida, are confined to warmer climates. They’re the descendants of pigs first brought to the Americas in the 1500s by Europeans as a food source and later escaped or were set loose. Feral swine in the US today includes domestic pigs, wild boar, and even crossbreeds between the two, but they are not adapted to colder temperatures.

If the Canadian super pigs can establish populations in the northern US, farmers in colder climates, like the Dakotas, Montana, and Minnesota, could soon be terrorized by feral swine, too.

Both Canada and the US have struggled to control their feral pig populations.

“Eliminating or exterminating pigs is not an option in most of their US territory. Limiting the damage to crops, ecosystems, and native species is the best course of action,” according to USDA Forest Service researcher John Kilgo, who studies wild pigs in South Carolina.

Hunting, a common wildlife-management tool in the US, has been proposed as a solution, but Brooks said the super pigs reproduce too quickly for hunting to keep up and that they also adapt quickly and become more elusive.

So, regardless of what you’ve heard, it’s unlikely you can shoot your way out of a super pig invasion.