US officials have warned that feral hogs heading across the border from Canada may pose a danger to the local environment.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that sightings of the feral animals on the US-Canadian border have increased in recent years.

At least eight of the wild animals have been sighted just north of Lincoln County, Montana, this summer, officials said.

Several agencies, including Wildlife Services, the Montana Invasive Species Council, the National Feral Swine Program and the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks department fear the wild pigs could cause significant damage to the landscape.

Officials warned the animals can often be aggressive, breed rapidly, and difficult to catch.

The feral pigs pose a risk to the local agriculture industries as they often destroy farm land and crops as they root for food.

They also have the potential to spread diseases to domestic livestock, although no disease has been detected in the team in Canada.

Female hogs typically have more than a dozen piglets in each litter and full grown hogs can weigh anywhere between 120lb to 400lbs.

Dale Nolte, from the USDA’s National Feral Swine Program, described the prospect as “a disaster”.

“Multiple people say that if we were to design an invasive species that would do the most widespread damage, feral swine aren’t too far off from being the perfect specimen,” he told local newspaper Daily Inter Lake.