Wild pig researcher says the ‘ecological trainwrecks’ will soon move into PA National Park

One of Canada’s top experts on wild pigs is predicting the invasive creatures will soon be running amok in Prince Albert National Park (PANP).

Wild pigs made headlines recently when they were discovered inside Elk Island National Park near Edmonton, marking the first time the creatures have been documented in a national park.

Ryan Brook heads up the Wild Pig Research Project at the University of Saskatchewan. He has been tracking the rapid expansion of the invasive species across the Prairies for years.

“If you look at our maps, that’s obviously the next national park,” said Brook. “You get into large parks, like PANP, with so much wilderness and once in there, they can be very difficult to remove.”

While the animals have been spreading across the Prairies at an alarming rate, seeing them move into parks is something Brook said the public should not brush off.

“They’re an ecological trainwreck,” he said.

“They contaminate water, they eat all kinds of plants and they tear up the ground and they’ll eat bird eggs. National parks are valued as these hotspots of biodiversity, these rich areas where wildlife are allowed to thrive, and I think these pigs put all of that at risk.”

Brook has almost 56,000 documented sightings across Canada with more than half being in Saskatchewan.

Brook has stated in the past that, if left unchecked, feral pigs could one day outnumber people in the province.

“We went from having a handful, like what B.C. has right now, to essentially being overrun with the southern half of the province being wild pig habitat,” Brook said. “Saskatchewan is a very large stronghold.”

Brook said Saskatchewan remains without a strategy to deal with wild pigs, adding even with a plan the province is past the point of being able to eradicate them.

“They are here to stay in the province for the next 1,000 years,” said Brook.

“We have to engage a broad range of the public – First Nations, Metis, hunters, farmers and various conservation groups. To have any kind of success, we have to be all rowing in the same direction and working together.”