A group of researchers from the University of Saskatchewan are investigating the presence of wild boars in the St. Brieux area.

Ryan Brook is an Associate Professor in the College of Agriculture and Bio-Resources, he explains more about the work they are undertaking.

"One of our goals is to develop a map of Canada showing where all of the wild pigs are currently so that's a project that Ruth Kost is working on in my lab. She's collecting observations from hunters and trail camera images and any observations so if people have that to share we's certainly welcome any input."

Disease research is a key second component of the complicated study that involves trapping the wild pigs from the air, placing collars around their necks and then in a year essentially destroying the animal following the test period.

"These are the kinds of testing that not only have implications for livestock and health because we know that disease can spread between wildlife and livestock but also for hunters that are harvesting them," Brook continued.

With all that work and the strategies it takes Brook wants the public to be aware and refrain from shooting the collared animals.

"When we talk about buying a collar, all the aircraft involved, we're looking at $5,000-$6,000 per animal or more just to get that collar on. That's why we hope people will leave those collars for a year, we assure you those animals will be removed at the end of the study."

Although much more detailed, Brook says research on boars in the St. Brieux region has been underway for about five years. When the sightings first began being reported the ideology was they simply escaped from farms and won't survive a Canadian winter, numbers show otherwise with even cross breeding with domestic pigs being spotted. Reproduction isn't a issue for the specie, on average five-seven fetuses develop in pregnant sows, reports of 13 piglets have been verified.

They ask that any hunter who has killed a pig that they get in contact with the researchers. Brook can be reached via email at ryan.brook@usask.ca or you can contact them through their Facebook page.

You can also hear more below from Brook in his interview with Bolt FM's Ronald Quaroni.