Wild boar farming will be phased out in Alberta over the next few months to protect the commercial hog industry, the environment and human health.
New rules introduced by the provincial government in December declared farmed and escaped wild boars a pest, making it illegal to farm wild boar in Alberta without a permit.
Existing wild boar producers could choose to exit the industry through the Wild Boar On-Farm Exit Program or choose to be grandfathered and stay in the industry, but under new, more stringent regulations.
“It’s been a challenge for wild boar farmers,” said Hannah McKenzie, the Wild Boar Specialist with Alberta Agriculture.
At the time the new rules were introduced, there were 14 known wild boar farms. Two more producers came forward after the program was introduced. All but one farm in the province will exit the industry. One farm will continue to operate under the tighter rules that include herd inventory, annual inspections and increased fencing requirements.
Farms that choose to exit the industry need to develop a herd dispersal plan to wind down their operation, grow and sell any remaining pigs. Those producers will receive $590 per eligible animal dispersed from the farm and a fencing payment between $8.89 and $10.11 a linear foot to compensate for fencing.
Changes made to fencing rules a few years earlier were designed to reduce the number of animals escaping from farms, but the fences were not always pig proof and the decision was made to declare wild boar a pest and end wild boar farming.
“It is challenging even with the new fencing requirements. Escapes still happen. The risk was too high,” said McKenzie, of Vermilion.
Wild boar were introduced into the prairies in the 1990s as a farm diversification opportunity. Some wild boar escaped from the farms, or were released into the wild and wild boar became a pest in the environment and a potential carrier of disease which could harm Alberta’s large commercial hog industry.
A wild boar trapping program was established and managed by Alberta Pork. It has since been moved to Alberta Agriculture. Five professional trappers are hired to control the wild boar population. It is illegal to hunt or trap wild boar in Alberta without a permit, with the exception of a landowner.
As of May 15, 612 wild boars in the wild have been killed since 2018. So far this year, 29 wild boar have been killed. •
— By Mary MacArthur