Existing owners will be bought out.
Eurasian wild boar will be declared an invasive species.
Farmers with wild boar herds will be paid to “shift to other forms of production such as heritage breeds of swine, other livestock or crop production,” the government said.
AgriCorp will administer the program.
“Our government is taking action to phase out the production of Eurasian wild boar,” provincial Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford said.
Wild boars that escape rip up the environment and in many countries are a threat to spread African Swine Fever.
The province will now fund “detection and removal efforts” and also regulate wild pigs under the provincial Invasive Species Act.
Specifically, the province will ban the “import, possession, transport, propagation, lease, trade, buying and sale of Eurasian wild boar and their hybrids” effective Jan. 1, 2022.
To help the province’s wild boar farmers toward a “faster transition,” those who own wild boar as of Oct. 19 — and who agree to stop raising wild boar within six months — will be eligible for support.
