Pigs On The Run in Australia ::: No part of Queensland is - TopicsExpress



          

Pigs On The Run in Australia ::: No part of Queensland is considered free of feral pigs. Source: Supplied A FEDERAL and State Government plan to launch a chopper-borne assault on millions of feral pigs in north Queensland is expected to start late this year. It is hoped shooting, trapping and baiting will relieve pressure on endangered turtles whose nests are being devastated by hungry porkers. At 23.5 million, feral pig numbers are so great they almost equal the national beef herd. No part of Queensland is considered free of feral pigs and they are causing problems for cane farmers, grain growers, graziers and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. There are hardly any in SA or Tasmania. NSW is heavily infested and Victoria and WA to a much lesser degree. Marksmen in helicopters cull more than 30,000 feral pigs in north Queensland Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt said he would roll out a control program for Cape York first. “Tackling the feral pig problem will start in earnest next summer to coincide with the peak turtle breeding season,’’ he said. “Trapping and shooting will coincide with the breeding period. No part of Queensland is considered free of feral pigs. “Reducing feral pig numbers just ahead of the arrival of breeding turtles in the peak season is considered the most effective way of protecting nests and newly hatched baby turtles making their way to the sea.” Mr Hunt said the program, which would include the east coast, would run over three years. He and Queensland National Parks Minister Steve Dickson announced two weeks ago that $7 million would be spent on controls. Olive ridley, flatback, loggerhead, green and hawksbill turtle numbers are all affected and pig predation is a major threat to turtles in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. “In some areas along the coast up to 90 per cent of turtle nests are lost to predation by feral pigs,’’ Mr Dickson said. “Of greatest concern, and a priority, is the protection of turtle populations nesting on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula.’’ In 2007, two helicopter-borne shooters shot 1600 pigs a week for six weeks straight, revealing the extent of the problem. Olive ridley, flatback (pictured), loggerhead, green and hawksbill turtle numbers are all affected impacted and pig predation. Picture: GBRMPA In 2009, pigs were wiped out on central Queensland’s Wild Duck Island, an important turtle nesting site. Cape York is believed to hold two to three million feral pigs and thousands of brumbies. Harvesting for export and as food for Aboriginal communities and efforts by sporting shooters have not even slowed their breeding. Last year former State Government scientist Jim Mitchell and invasive species scientist Tim Low complained of growing pig problems because no broadscale controls had been undertaken for two years. They argued that controls had stalled while Queensland concentrated on reducing dingo numbers after pressure from Agforce. ******************** Queensland in particular suffers from a huge feral pig problem. Source: Supplied Feral pig digging up marine turtle nest on the mainland beach near Crab Island at Cape York Peninsula – one of the biggest turtle nesting sites in Australia. FAST FACTS * European settlers introduced pigs. * To this day, some pigs are deliberately released by recreational hunters. * Annual impact on agriculture is estimated at $100 million annually * Pigs destroy waterways and eat anything – mammals, reptiles, amphibians and crustaceans. * Their impact on turtle nests has raised fears the amphibians will become regionally extinct * Lamb losses of 15 per cent to pigs are common although losses as high as 38 per cent have been recorded. * If diseases like foot and mouth should enter Australia, feral pigs are expected to spread it widely.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 05:43:21 +0000

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