Boar tracking a wild proposition says producer

by MIKE BEAUDIN

Wild boar producers in Canada will have to start tracking their animals in less than four months but nobody seems to know if that means tagging a vicious 500-pound animal.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency recently reminded wild boar producers that they have to follow the same tracking procedures as pig farmers starting July 1.

But applying the regulations may be easier said than done.

“You can't put an ear tag in those animals because they are going to chew your hand off,” said Fred de Martines, who produces both wild boars and pigs on his farm north of Stratford. “If any government official is going to tell me that I'm going to have to put a tag in (an ear), I'm going to tell them they will have to volunteer to do that. We will see how long that will last.”

Jeff Clark, manager of PigTrace Canada, the agency responsible for the national swine traceability system, admits they still don’t have a procedure in place even though the agency deadline is looming.

Clark, in a telephone interview from Winnipeg, said he doesn’t expect a wild boar producer to risk life and limb by trying to follow the same ear tagging procedure as pig producers.

“We have to be practical for sure,” said Clark. “There’s a human safety element to it. They’re vicious. They’re big. It’s ridiculous to try and tag them when they’re getting shipped out and weigh 500 or 600 pounds.”

The traceability system, run by the Canadian Pork Council through PigTrace Canada, is meant to help control the economic impact of animal health emergencies such as disease outbreaks like the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus that has plagued some Canadian producers last year and this year.

Clark said he’s been tracking down wild boar producers to work out a solution. A shoulder tattoo applied just before the boars are shipped to the abattoir is one consideration. Another is to tag the animals when they’re still piglets, although he admits that may not be practical since wild boars live outside and the tags could fall out in the bush.

Clark said any system that effectively monitors and tracks the animals’ movements should be satisfactory. “We’re looking at different options, maybe we will have to come up with a new tag or something.”

De Martines, who has been producing wild boars since 1992, said he couldn’t understand why the CFIA is applying the traceability regulations to wild boar producers. He said the new regulations show a lack of understanding of wild boar production.

“It’s a joke really,” said de Martines who has 100 wild boars. “They think because it’s a pig the same rules apply, even if it’s a totally different industry – that doesn’t matter. It’s just too much. It’s more work and it doesn’t really do anything.”

He said he understands the importance of tracking and reporting of pigs because there is so much movement involved that increases the risk of spreading disease. But the wild boars he produces go directly to the abattoir, he picks up the meat and delivers it directly to restaurants and butcher shops.  

“Wild boars are not being sold and trucked as live animals all over the place,” he said. “They’re going from the farm to the kill plant. I don’t sell livestock. I only sell meat. All producers raise them for meat purposes.”

De Martines said wild boars are also less susceptible to disease.

However, Clark said although the risk of disease is far less with wild boars, there’s always a possibility they can get a disease from migratory birds, which could be spread by somebody walking through a field and tracking it into a commercial pig barn. He said the industry couldn’t afford to take any chances.

De Martines said there are only a handful of wild boar producers in Ontario. Most stopped producing the animals when the Ontario government in 2005 banned the hunting of wildlife raised in captivity on game farms.

The CFIA requires that all pork producers and other “pig custodians,” such as breeders, auction markets and livestock truckers, must properly identify, record and report the movement of pigs under their care or control, from the animals’ birth or import to slaughter or export.

Changes to the federal Health of Animals Regulations requiring traceability for the mainline hog industry took effect July 1 last year. The regulations also set the July 1, 2015 deadline for the wild boar sector to follow the same traceability requirements.

Clark said they started with the hog industry first because they knew the people working in various parts of that sector. The more difficult part is informing other producers like those in the wild boar sector. Backyard producers who own two or three animals and even petting zoos now have to trace and record their pigs.

Any hog or wild boar producer or “custodian” who fails to meet the new requirements could be subject to “enforcement action such as warnings, fines or prosecution,” according to the agency.

Clark said warnings could be issued for first-time offenders depending on the circumstances. BF