Yeah. This is what I've sort of run into. The animals are running rampant. They're killed but then there are no tanneries in the US who will process the hide. Here's an interesting sidebar to the whole thing; in South America there's a cousin to our wild boar called a Peccary. Peccary is one of the worlds finest leathers and it's used to make super high end gloves and shoes etc. I mean, leather gloves that go for $150. Crazy. Most of those hides get shipped overseas to Italy, Germany and Poland and now comes the really weird part. Those hides, as leather, cannot be easily shipped back into the US because that animal is protected by CITES. The dichotomy is, we have ample access to animals here but don't process the leather due to the controversy and lack of tanneries. And leather that goes from South America to Europe can't be easily shipped back into the US because it's considered an endangered species by our government.
As for whether or not wild boar leather is the same as pigskin.....it is and it isn't. Pigskin is....well.....pigskin. We've all seen it. Wild boar leather is dramatically different in texture, appearance and toughness. Now for the REALLY weird part. The cute, curly tailed, Porky pig kind of critter, if he escapes captivity, CAN turn back into a wild boar in a matter of months. These things are Jekyll and Hyde type creatures. They'll grow tusks, develop super tough hair in the winter and they become NASTY! So, regular pigskin looks just like a football. However once that creature gets out into the wild it morphs into a monster and the leather is awesome. The leather from that animal is much much much different. Weird, huh? deeb-a-deeb-a-deeb th- th- th- that's all folks! Who knew!