Have you ever wondered why we put money in pigs or piggy banks? The pig is an ancient symbol of wealth in China and Southeast Asia. Pottery pigs were made as funerary offerings and were frequently stuffed with “paper money” made specifically for funerary purposes. But recently, a hybrid breed of super pigs –a cross between a domestic pig and a wild boar– has been causing havoc in Canada. And they have now set their sights on the United States. But why did they become a threat? Keep scrolling to find out.
Why are they hard to eradicate?
“One of the big surprises of this issue is that they can survive in such a cold climate,” Ryan Brook, director of the University of Saskatchewan’s Canadian Wild Pig Research Project, says. The hybrid pigs’ cold hardiness ensures their survival.
Super pigs also eat anything. In the spring, they consume massive amounts of goslings and ducklings. Surprisingly, they can even take down an adult whitetail deer. It has become clear that they endangered elk and, most notably, waterfowl. Not to mention the crop destruction.
