Wild Pigs Confirmed in Canadian National Park

Canadian wild pigs have been discovered in a Canadian national park for the first time, sounding alarms that these wild pigs will cause damage to sensitive ecosystems. Parks Canada confirmed the sighting of these invasive pests in Alberta’s Elk Island national park.

Public sightings and video provided by landowners confirm at least one sounder (a group of at least one sow and piglets) in the region that is known to periodically come into the park, reports Yahoo News. 

Elk Island is a fenced-in park about 25 miles east of Edmonton. It’s known as the home to one of the country’s biggest wild bison herds. The Alberta government is working with Parks Canada to prevent the hogs from settling into the area, the article said. 

Wild pig expert Ryan Brook of the University of Saskatchewan said the wild pigs could create havoc in the park, destroying habitat that the bison depend on. Brook, who heads up the Canadian Wild Pig Research Project, told Farm Journal’s PORK last fall that the wild pig population continues to explode in Canada.

Since Brook, began his research and tracking of wild pigs in Canada in 2010, sounder groups have gone up considerably. He says group size isn’t the only thing that has increased since he started his research. The pigs are getting bigger, too. Read more: Monster-Sized Wild Pigs are on the Rise in Canada.