Wild pigs: Tackling one of Canada's worst invasive species
Wild pigs: Tackling one of Canada's worst invasive species
With no signs of slowing down, wild pigs are considered by some to be one of the most destructive invasive species in Canada.
While the Prairies have been hardest hit, other provinces are feeling the effects of the troublesome animal.
One golf course on Vancouver Island learned that recently after a group of pigs began tearing up sections of the fairway earlier this year.
"There were seven or eight of them, so we had the mother and the little sucklings and they keep wandering and making a mess with their waste, and then when the golfers come they sort of beetle off," said Norm Jackson, head professional at Cowichan Golf Club in Duncan, B.C., near Victoria.
The pigs have been a nuisance for months and are thought to have escaped from a neighbouring property.
Even then, Jackson says this has been an ongoing issue for years.
Staff are continuously repairing damaged areas on the course, he says, which could end up proving costly in the long run.
However, the concern for the club is not only ensuring the clients are safe, but also that the animals are looked after.
"If there's anybody out there that has any suggestions we would certainly be happy to listen," Jackson said.
The "huge shopping list" of risks from wild pigs isn't limited to Canada, says Ryan Brook, an associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at the University of Saskatchewan.
"They're incredibly adaptive. They are, in my opinion, and I think many agree with me, that this is the worst invasive large mammal on the planet," he told CTV News.
Wild pigs reproduce quickly and can live in a range of environments, Brook says. They are also rooters, meaning they use their nose to dig through the ground to search for food such as insect larvae, leaving a "terrible mess" in their wake.
Because they don't have sweat glands, Brook says they will wallow in mud to cool off, which can spread parasites and diseases in water.
"As soon as it's outside of the fence, regardless of what it is specifically or what breed or what type, doesn't matter to me, that's a wild pig and that is a risk to the environment," he said.
"It's a risk to agriculture, it's a risk to public health and I can't underscore enough how serious this issue is."
Some Canadian provinces have contact information for people to report wild pigs, which Brook says is the preferred option as opposed to a "DIY" approach.
In most cases, people who try to get rid of wild pigs end up simply pushing them somewhere else, creating subgroups that spread in multiple directions or frightening the animals enough so they become nocturnal.
Meanwhile, Manitoba is exploring options to trap wild pigs and Alberta has a bounty program to help eradicate them.
"Time is of the essence, absolutely," Brook said. “Certainly it can go from a minor nuisance to [an] out of control problem incredibly fast."
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
Residents digging through a collapsed building in a northwest Syrian town discovered a crying infant whose mother appears to have given birth to her while buried underneath the rubble from this week's devastating earthquake, relatives and a doctor said Tuesday.
The British Columbia government has introduced legislation to make Sept. 30 a paid statutory holiday marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Canadians now believe they need $1.7 million in savings in order to retire, a 20 per cent increase from 2020, according to a new BMO survey. The eye-watering figure is the largest sum since BMO first started surveying Canadians about their retirement expectations 13 years ago.
Three men who disappeared after planning to rap at a Detroit party were killed by multiple gunshots, police said Tuesday, five days after their bodies were found in a vacant, rat-infested building.
Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands announced Tuesday that they plan to provide Ukraine with at least 100 refurbished Leopard 1 battle tanks, a pledge that comes as Kyiv anticipates a new Russian offensive around the anniversary of its invasion.
Zoom is cutting about 1,300 jobs, or approximately 15% of its workforce. CEO Eric Yuan said in a blog post Tuesday that the company ramped up staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic, when businesses became increasingly reliant on its service as people worked from home. Yuan said Zoom grew three times in size within 24 months to manage demand.
The British Columbia government has introduced legislation to make Sept. 30 a paid statutory holiday marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
Canadians now believe they need $1.7 million in savings in order to retire, a 20 per cent increase from 2020, according to a new BMO survey. The eye-watering figure is the largest sum since BMO first started surveying Canadians about their retirement expectations 13 years ago.
The Tsuut'ina Police Service, which serves a community west of Calgary, is expected to share more details about the case against former Dances With Wolves actor Nathan Chasing Horse, CTV News has learned.
Even before Monday's devastating earthquake, getting aid to all parts of war-battered Syria was fraught with daunting political and logistical challenges.
Jurors at Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial in South Carolina will get to hear evidence about what crime scene technicians discovered when they tested a rain jacket found three months after his wife and son were killed, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Using underwater drones, warships and inflatable vessels, the Navy is carrying out an extensive operation to gather all of the pieces of the massive Chinese spy balloon a U.S. fighter jet shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday.
It's unclear when evacuated residents might be able to return home to the area where officials released and burned toxic chemicals from the wreckage of a derailed train, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday.
Crowds gathered at wreckage sites throughout Turkiye, vapor showing the cold air as people breathed in and out in anticipation of reaching more survivors. Even those who had emerged or escaped collapse in Monday's magnitude 7.8 earthquake and its forceful aftershocks now had to sleep in cars, outside or in government shelters.
A Utah man who fatally shot his wife, her mother and their five kids before turning the gun on himself had done online searches about how loud different guns sound and whether neighbors could hear gunshots five days before the killings, new court records posted online show.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
The federal commission looking into the Liberal government's decision to use the Emergencies Act is being granted an extension to deliver its report to the cabinet and the public at the same time this month.
A U.S. survey found that people who had a personal connection to someone who became ill or died of COVID-19 were more likely to have received at least one shot of the vaccine compared to those who didn’t have any loved ones who had been impacted by the disease.
Canadian researchers are drawing attention to the increasing prevalence of 'a pathological pursuit of muscularity' among Canadian boys and young men, with a new study that found one in four were at risk of developing what's known as muscle dysmorphia.
Zoom is cutting about 1,300 jobs, or approximately 15% of its workforce. CEO Eric Yuan said in a blog post Tuesday that the company ramped up staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic, when businesses became increasingly reliant on its service as people worked from home. Yuan said Zoom grew three times in size within 24 months to manage demand.
Pakistan lifted its ban on Wikipedia services before dawn Tuesday, after the country's media regulator blocked the site last week for not removing purportedly blasphemous content, claiming it hurts the sentiments of Muslims.
Google parent Alphabet is planning to launch a chatbot service and more artificial intelligence for its search engine as well as developers, making a riposte to Microsoft in a rivalry to lead a new wave of technology.
Three men who disappeared after planning to rap at a Detroit party were killed by multiple gunshots, police said Tuesday, five days after their bodies were found in a vacant, rat-infested building.
Tickets for the first concert of Beyonce's upcoming 'Renaissance' world tour sold out Tuesday, and concert management group Live Nation said a second concert in Stockholm was added because of the high demand.
Toronto native Samantha Bee is returning home to host the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards. Organizers for the ceremony celebrating the best in Canadian film and television said Bee will helm the pre-recorded broadcast to cap off Canadian Screen Week, during which there will be numerous in-person events for the first time in four years.
The number of insolvencies filed by Canadian businesses in 2022 was up 37.2 per cent compared with 2021. The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy says there were 3,402 business insolvencies last year, up from 2,480 in 2021.
A new poll finds one-third of Canadian households say their financial situation has worsened over the last year. According to a Leger poll commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies, 34 per cent of Canadian households say they're financially worse off compared with a year ago.
Zoom is cutting about 1,300 jobs, or approximately 15% of its workforce. CEO Eric Yuan said in a blog post Tuesday that the company ramped up staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic, when businesses became increasingly reliant on its service as people worked from home. Yuan said Zoom grew three times in size within 24 months to manage demand.
She started throwing punches to get exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now 17-year-old Talia Birch is gearing up to compete in the Canada Games as it opens up to female boxers for the first time
Ukrainian skier Ivan Kovbasnyuk, a two-time Olympian, can't train at home in the Carpathian Mountains because war in the country has damaged the power grid so severely that there's not enough energy to make the chairlifts operate.
Pro tennis player Jessica Pegula has revealed that her mother, Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres co-owner and president Kim Pegula, went into cardiac arrest in June and is still recovering while dealing with significant language and memory issues.
Automakers Renault and Nissan on Monday formalized their reboot of a relationship that had grown rocky, culminating in the spectacular fall of top executive Carlos Ghosn, who had led successful turnarounds at both companies before his arrest and daring escape.
New research suggests that cutting fossil fuel emissions by adopting electric vehicles can improve air quality and potentially reduce respiratory problems in communities. But these benefits may not apply to all neighbourhoods in the same way.
Former NFL player Jim Bob Morris is heading to the Super Bowl in Phoenix from Bloomington, Illinois, in a newly refurbished set of wheels. His ride has new paint, new seating and even a new bathroom.
