ASSOCIATED PRESS
BILLINGS – Officials in Montana are marshaling their resources and enlisting the public’s help to keep encroaching feral hogs from Canada at bay with a program called “Squeal on Pigs.”
It
encourages people to report feral hog sightings to the state Department of
Livestock, which officials say is critical to preventing an invasion. The hogs
can spread disease and cause widespread property and crop damage. The most
recent U.S. Department of Agriculture estimate put swine damages at $1.5
billion annually.
There’s been
a population boom of feral hogs in Canada, and photographs taken last year show
the swine within 5 miles of the U.S. border.
