Red Deer County calls for ban on wild boar farms

One Alberta municipality is getting ready to ban wild boar farms in an effort to reduce the crop and landscape destruction caused by the extremely fertile species. 

"They're a pest," said Red Deer County Mayor Jim Wood. "They make one heck of a mess." 

Wild boar are a known menace in Alberta, spreading disease and destroying vegetation. 

Since 2003, the province has paid out more than $45,000 in boar bounties of $50 per head. 

The government is currently consulting with municipalities about best fencing practices in order to reduce the number of animals that are able to escape. 

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"Any fence is only as good as the gate that may be left open," Wood said. 

Wood said that once the boars break free, they become extremely difficult to track down — a problem compounded by their ability to rapidly multiply.

Wood said a female boar can produce as many as 13 piglets per litter, twice a year. 

"I would suggest that the best way to control a pest would be to do it early, prior to its establishment," he said, which is why his council is in the process of drafting a bylaw to make it illegal to raise wild boar within the county. 

There are 16 wild boar farms registered in Alberta, according to Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. 

Between 2008 and 2015, hunters submitted the ears of 925 animals to the bounty program as proof of their destruction. 

With files from Alberta@Noon