Fears ‘super pigs’ could invade US states – and it’s not easy to eradicate them
Experts in the US fear a rising number of “super pigs” that are proving tough to eradicate could invade northern states.
As a cross-breed combining the Eurasian boar’s survival skills with the size and fertility of domestic swine in Canada, the “super pig” is described as an “ecological train wreck”.
Professor Ryan Brook, one of Canada’s authorities on the issue, added they are the “most invasive animal on the planet”, with the swine capable of spreading disease and devastating crops and wildlife.
“Nobody should be surprised when pigs start walking across that border, if they haven’t already,” Professor Brook said.
“The question is: what will be done about it?”
Northern states like Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana are taking steps to stop the invasion, but it isn’t easy to control the spiralling population.
The pigs are smart and furry, giving them the edge to survive Canadian winters, and they reproduce extremely quickly.
One sow can have six piglets in a litter and raise two litters in a year – which means that even if authorities managed to eliminate 65% of the population each year, they’d still grow.
And hunting could make the problem worse, according to Professor Brook, with the success rate for hunters only about 2- 3%.
The pigs are described as the most invasive animal on the planet. Pic: St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP
Several states have also banned hunting because it makes the pigs more wary and nocturnal, which makes them tougher to track down.
Instead, methods under consideration are ground traps – like the so-called “BoarBuster” – or net guns fired from helicopters.
Some states have also adopted crowdsourced “Squeal on Pigs” tracking programs, while scientists have studied poisons such as sodium nitrite, but they risk harming other species.
“The only path forward is you have to be really aggressive and you have to use all the tools in the toolbox,” Professor Brook said.
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Pigs already cost $2.5bn (£1.98bn) in damage to crops in the US each year, mostly in southern states.
They have also, on occasion, been known to attack humans, with one woman killed in Texas in 2019.
The animals are not native to North America, but have roamed there for centuries.
The problems in Canada date back to the 1980s, when farmers were encouraged to raise wild boar, before the market collapsed in 2001 and some frustrated farmers simply set the animals free.
Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump he “will not back down” from Russia’s goals in Ukraine during a phone call today, the Kremlin has said.
The Russian president spoke to his US counterpart for almost an hour, and Mr Trump “again raised the issue of an early end to military action” in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
In response, Mr Putin said “Russia will not back down” from its aims there, which include “the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs,” Mr Ushakov said.
The phrase “root causes” is shorthand for Moscow’s argument that it was compelled to invade Ukraine in order to prevent the country from joining NATO.
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Trump and Putin’s latest call on Ukraine
Ukraine and its European allies say this is a pretext to justify what they call an imperial-style war, but Mr Trump has previously shown sympathy with Russia.
At the same time, Mr Putin told the US president that Russia is ready to continue negotiating, the aide said.
The Russian president said any prospective peace deal must see Ukraine give up its NATO bid and recognise his country’s territorial gains.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, seen with Mr Trump in June, is pushing for Ukraine to join NATO. Pic: Reuters
He also briefed Mr Trump on agreements made last month, which saw Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war and dead soldiers.
Specific dates for the third round of peace talks in Istanbul were not discussed – nor was the US decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s call came after the Pentagon confirmed some weapons due to be sent to Ukraine have been held as it reviews military stockpiles.
The paused shipments include air defence missiles and precision-guided artillery, two people familiar with the situation have said.
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The decision led to Ukraine calling in the acting US envoy to Kyiv on Wednesday to underline the importance of military aid from Washington.
Kyiv also cautioned that the move would weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against intensifying Russian airstrikes and battlefield advances.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s phone call was the sixth they have publicly disclosed since the US president returned to the White House in January.
Donald Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ has been passed by the US congress, sending it to the president to sign into law.
The controversial tax breaks and spending cuts package cleared its final hurdle as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly approved the bill with a 218-214 vote.
The bill delivers tax breaks Mr Trump promised in his 2024 election campaign, cuts health and food safety programmes, and zeroes out dozens of green energy incentives.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will lower tax revenues by $4.5trn over 10 years and add $3.4trn to the US’s $36.2trn debt.
But despite concerns over the 869-page bill’s price tag – and its hit to healthcare programmes – Republicans largely lined up in support, with just two rebelling on the vote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is congratulated following the vote. Pic: Reuters
Every Democrat in Congress voted against the bill, blasting it as a giveaway to the wealthy that will leave millions of Americans uninsured.
House Speaker Mike Johnson made the Republicans’ closing argument for the bill, telling Congress: “For everyday Americans, this means real, positive change that they can feel.”
Earlier, the House’s Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries gave a record-breaking eight-hour and 44-minute speech against it.
“The focus of this bill, the justification for all of the cuts that will hurt everyday Americans, is to provide massive tax breaks for billionaires,” he said.
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The bill’s spending cuts largely target Medicaid, the health programme that covers 71 million Americans on low incomes.
It will tighten enrolment standards, institute a work requirement and clamp down on a funding mechanism used by states to boost federal payments.
The changes could leave nearly 12 million people without health insurance, according to the CBO.
On the other side of the ledger, it will stave off tax increases that were due to hit most Americans at the end of the year, when tax cuts from President Trump’s first term were due to expire.
It also sets up new tax breaks for overtime pay, seniors and tipped income.
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The bill narrowly passed the US Senate on Tuesday after vice president JD Vance cast the deciding vote to break a 50-50 tie.
Mr Trump will sign it into law on Friday at 5pm local time (10pm in the UK), the White House said.
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