The pigs that the UG used in recent years to control giant hogweed and Japanese knotweed at Zernike will not be coming back. Instead, the university plans to sieve the soil and reseed the area.
‘The pigs didn’t get deep enough’, says spokesperson Elies Wempe-Kouwenhoven. ‘It wasn’t a structural solution, and in times of budget cuts, we can’t continue with it.’
The main issue is with the Japanese knotweed, whose roots reach the groundwater. The remnants of roots that were too deep for the pigs to reach can develop into new plants. ‘We’d rather spend a significant amount of money all at once’, says Wempe-Kouwenhoven. ‘In the end, the pigs are more expensive than sieving the soil.’ Sieving costs the same as what the pigs cost in one year, she claims, although she declined to say how much that is.
The announcement earlier this year that the pigs would not come back led to a wave of protest. Many staff members advocated for the return of the animals, which were seen as a symbol of a green university. A petition for their return was signed 147 times.