Four wild boar shot, two evade capture after escaping from Whitehorse area farm

Yukon’s agriculture branch confirmed four were dead and says officials are working to trap the remaining two.
(Photo By Valentin Panzirsch – File:Wildschein, Nähe Pulverstampftor.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0 at)

WHITEHORSE — The owner of six wild boar on the lam in Yukon has shot and killed four of the beasts, while two are still evading capture.

Yukon’s agriculture branch confirmed four were dead and says officials are working to trap the remaining two.

Officials with the branch say the female boar were among seven that escaped last month from a farm near Mendenhall, west of Whitehorse.

One of the animals was destroyed earlier, and there’s still concern about the remaining two because the feral swine are considered dangerous, destructive and invasive.

The agriculture branch does not want the boars to become established in the territory because the creatures have few natural predators, they eat anything, are wiley and aggressive and have the potential to pass disease to native species.

The British Columbia government declared open season on feral swine in 2014 after the animals that were being raised for meat escaped from several farms around the province.