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Tag Archives invasive species

A group of wild boars running in Europe, where the pigs have caused challenges with disease spread. (iStock/Getty Images)
Livestock

Saskatchewan to license, limit wild boar farming

Moratorium placed on any new farms

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Saskatchewan is tightening its rules on wild boar farming, including a moratorium on any new farms, in a renewed bid to keep the province’s feral pig population in check. The provincial ag ministry announced the moratorium Wednesday and said it’s “developing regulations for licensing existing commercial wild boar farms.” Regulations for wild boar and feral […] Read more
A sounder of Eurasian Wild Boar was spotted multiple times on the Pickering Federal Lands in November. They were captured by Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry staff the following month.
News

Eurasian Wild Boar captured north of Pickering

Natural resources ministry believes 14 animals escaped from farms

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A sounder of Eurasian Wild Boar spotted numerous times in the Pickering Federal Lands and surrounding territory was captured and killed in early December, following a month-long pursuit by invasive species specialists from Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry. “Our place was Operation Control Centre for (ministry staff) to finally get […] Read more
Province acting quickly after multiple Eurasian wild boar sightings near Pickering.
News

Wild boar sightings prompt swift action from province

‘Whole sounder removal’ goal of natural resources ministry after multiple sightings near Pickering

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Multiple sightings of 14 Eurasian wild boar in rural areas north of Pickering have Ontario’s northern development, natural resources and forestry ministry working quickly to trap and remove them. “A sounder of wild pigs typically consists of one or several related females and their offspring,” said Erin Koen, a research scientist in the provincial Wildlife […] Read more
A group of wild boars running in Europe, where the pigs have caused challenges with disease spread. (iStock/Getty Images)
Livestock

Ontario moves to phase out wild boar farming

Province, feds fund swine fever defense plans

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Hoping to improve its odds against African swine fever ever getting a toehold in Canada’s hog herds, Ontario plans to regulate Eurasian wild boar as an invasive species starting in the new year. To that end, the province is making funding available to farmers who actively breed and raise wild boar to “shift to other […] Read more
An Asian giant hornet, trapped at Birch Bay, Wash. on July 14, 2020 by Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) researchers, is seen at Olympia, Wash. on July 29, 2020. (Photo: WSDA/Chris Looney/handout via Reuters)
Livestock

U.S. training ag staff to track, trap, kill ‘murder hornets’

Invasive species remains threat to bees, honey producers

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Blaine, Wash. | Reuters — The first Asian giant hornet nest of the year has been found in Washington state, and plans are being developed to eradicate it, likely next week, the state’s agriculture department said on Thursday. The so-called stinging “murder hornets,” the world’s largest hornets, can grow to five centimetres in length and […] Read more
Eurasian wild boar, like this one, are a concern, but in Ontario most of the wild pigs come from escaped or released farm or domesticated pigs.
News

Wild pig damage extensive across the globe

Researchers consider them one of the most damaging invasive species on Earth

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Whether you call them feral pigs, boar, swine, hogs, or even razorbacks, wild pigs are one of the most damaging invasive species on Earth, and they’re notorious for damaging agriculture and native wildlife. A big reason they’re so harmful is because they uproot soil at vast scales, like tractors plowing a field. Our new research […] Read more
The ownership and trade of Eurasian Wild Boar will be phased out over two years in Ontario.
Livestock, News

Wild boar ban included in draft invasive species changes

Ontario ministries aim to avoid damage experienced in U.S. and Prairies

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The possession and trade of the Eurasian Wild Boar will be phased out over two years, pending the approval of changes to Ontario’s Invasive Species Act, which are up for public comment until June 7. A draft plan and proposed new rules for pigs under the Invasive Species Act were uploaded recently to the Environmental […] Read more
Asian giant hornets have noticeably large orange heads and black eyes; worker hornets are about 3.5 cm in length; queens can be up to four to five cm in length, with a wingspan of four to seven cm. (B.C. Ministry of Agriculture)
Livestock

Two more ‘murder hornets’ turn up on B.C. mainland

One nest found last month in neighbouring U.S. town

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Beekeepers in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland are asked to keep an eye out for so-called “murder hornets” after two were found in the region within a week. A single Asian giant hornet was found Saturday at Aldergrove, near the intersection of Fraser Highway and Highway 13 — about five km from where […] Read more
A group of wild boars running in Europe, where the pigs have caused challenges with disease spread.
Livestock, News

Trail cams installed as part of wild pig project

Government looks to designate wild pigs as an invasive species

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Wild pigs are on the loose in Ontario, but staff at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) are confident they’re ahead of a wide-scale and potentially devastating invasion. As part of a pilot project initiated in January, trail cameras were installed at eight locations in southern and eastern Ontario in response to what […] Read more
Individual ash trees can be treated with insecticide to protect against Emerald Ash Borer, but that’s not a solution for a woodlot.
News

Resistant trees found to resist ash borer

Science Notes: Gene editing could place resistance genes into ash species currently affected by EAB

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An international team of scientists have identified candidate resistance genes that could protect ash trees from the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a deadly pest that is expected to kill billions of trees worldwide. In the new study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers from Queen Mary University of London and the Royal Botanic Gardens, […] Read more

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