The race of mutant pig men scare of the 90s never materialized, but listen – it seems humanity still needs to live in fear of the rise of the pig.
Specifically, a hybrid race of super pigs that are also super intelligent that are running wild in Canada.
The pigs were originally crossbred on purpose, using a domestic pig and a wild boar, farmers hoped the new pigs would both grow larger and be able to better tolerate cold temperatures.
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When the market started to drop, many farmers let their pigs run free – and now, according to Field and Stream, they’re heading south into Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Michigan.
And the States are about to find out how incredibly hard it will be to turn them back.
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Ryan Brook, leader of the University of Saskatchewan’s Canadian Wild Pig Research Project, says their cold hardiness leads their many concerns.
“That they can survive in such a cold climate is one of the big surprises of this issue. Wild hogs feed on anything. They gobble up tons and tons of goslings and ducklings in the spring. They can take down a whitetail deer, even an adult.
Originally it was like ‘wow, this is something we can hunt.’ But it’s become clear that they’re threatening our whitetail deer, elk, and especially waterfowl. Not to mention the crop damage.
The downsides outweigh any benefit wild hogs may have as a huntable species.”
The super pigs are good at evading hunters, too, by turning nocturnal or dispersing into smaller groups to avoid detection. They’re almost disturbingly smart.
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One strategy that has worked in the past is putting a tracking device on one pig and waiting for it to lead officials to the pack, but listen. It sounds like they’ll figure out how to thwart that system at some point, too.
Officials would like you to inform them if you see a wild pig, and have created the Squeal on Pigs website to make it easier.
So make sure to report those pigs! They could be dangerous!