From the University of Saskatchewan:
Wild pigs typically weigh between 120 and 250 pounds. They have around six piglets per litter, per year.
They are adapted to very cold temperatures, and can breed in any season, living in pigloos burrowed into the snow. Sexually mature within four-to-eight months, they feed on all common types of farmers’ crops, including corn, wheat and canola. They also eat insects, birds, reptiles and small mammals.
“The growing wild pig population is not an ecological disaster waiting to happen—it is already happening,” said USask’s Ryan Brook, lead researcher for the Canadian Wild Pig Project, a Canada-wide research program, and Aschim’s supervisor.
Even the New York Times is getting in on the pigloo action (although it has yet to be noted on the Times First Said Twitter bot):
Many experts thought the pigs couldn’t thrive in cold climates. But they burrow into the snow in winter, creating so-called pigloos — a tunnel or cave with a foot or two of snow on top for insulation. Many have developed thick coats of fur.
Now they are poised to invade states along the border, threatening to establish a new beachhead in this country.
“It’s concerning that Canada isn’t doing anything about it,” said Maggie Nutter, one of 80 concerned ranchers and farmers who met recently near Sweet Grass, Mont., to discuss the potential swine invasion. “What do you do to get them to control their wild hog population?”
It seems that not even an AR-15 nor a Jason Isbell song can stop these feral hogs from burrowing.
As the Reply-All podcast discovered after interviewing the man behind the meme, it turns out that feral hogs are actually a serious problem in many parts of North American. And not an AR-15 nor a Jason Isbell song can stop them from burrowing into adorable little homes.
Clearly the only line of defense we have left is to hire a Big Bad Wolf to blow these pigloos down.
Feral Pigs Roam the South. Now Even Northern States Aren’t Safe. [Jim Robbins / New York Times]
Wild pigs invade Canadian provinces—an emerging crisis for agriculture and the environment [University of Saskatchewan News]
Canada's Invasive Wild Pigs Are Building "Pigloos" To Survive The Winter [Colin Leggett / Narcity]
Pig and igloo images via Wikimedia Commons
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