Genetically engineering wild boars could render female offspring sterile and eventually wipe out the species, hopes Ray Lu of the University of Guelph.
He is adapting an idea that helped knock out malaria-carrying mosquitos.
“I do believe this is a potential solution,” said Ray Lu, associate professor in the university’s molecular and cellular biology department.
A Saskatcehwan innovator Imported Eurasian wild boars in the 1980s for hunting and meat, says the Canadian Council on Invasive Species.
Some of those pigs escaped or were released into the wild, where they’ve since adapted and thrived.
They now rip up fields and pose a threat to spread diseases to commercial herds. The main concern is deadly and highly-contagious African Swine Fever which infects wild pigs in Europe and Asia.