Researchers from the University of Madrid and the Spanish National Institute of Agricultural and Food Technology’s Animal Health Research Centre (CISA) have developed a vaccine they say is 98 per cent effective against one strain of African Swine Fever.
They tested it on wild boar and on crosses with commercial-farm hogs.
Meanwhile, the University of Saskatchewan said the first-ever published survey of the wild pig distribution in Canada has found a rapid expansion in the invasive species' range, which is increasing by nine per cent a year.
They are now in every province from Quebec to British Columbia.
"Wild pigs are ecological train wrecks. They are prolific breeders making them an extremely successful invasive species," said Ruth Aschim, a doctoral student who led the research published in Nature Scientific Reports.
"Wild pigs can cause soil erosion, degrade water quality, destroy crops, and prey on small mammals, amphibians and birds."
