$2.67 million to eradicate feral pigs on KI

Hon Tim Whetstone MP

Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development

Hon David Speirs MP

Minister for Environment and Water

Thursday 18 June 2020

The Marshall Liberal Government is targeting feral pigs on Kangaroo Island with a $2.67 million high-intensity program aimed at curbing the pest’s destruction on agriculture and the environment.

Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Tim Whetstone said feral pigs on Kangaroo Island have been impacting farmers for years.

“This $2.67 million program will help remove feral pigs from Kangaroo Island, which currently cost the community $1 million per year,” said Minister Whetstone.

“Feral pigs are not only causing ongoing damage to the Island’s agricultural industries such as pastures, grain and potato crops, fence lines and dams but they are impacting on threatened native species and the environment.

“It is an important time to implement this eradication program as feral pig numbers have reduced following the summer’s bushfires and there is an opportunity to rid this pest from the Island.

“In collaboration with private landholders around 130 feral pigs have already been removed by KI Landscape Board staff through on-ground action but with heavy rains over the last few months, and regrowth in full swing, feral pigs are now on the move.

“Farmers will be supported by marksmen both on the ground and in the air who will work across parks and farms, and will ramp up baiting and trapping programs.”

Minister for Environment and Water David Speirs said recent surveys have shown the feral pigs in parks are now on the move looking for fungi as they pop up after heavy rain.

“The feral pigs are a direct predator of frogs, fish, reptiles, birds and small mammals, and they also destroy habitats and ecosystems,” said Minister Speirs.

“Species at risk include the endangered southern brown bandicoot, the endangered Kangaroo Island dunnart and the endangered Kangaroo Island echidna.

“Removing the threat of feral pigs, particularly while the environment is vulnerable as it recovers from fire, will support the recovery of threatened fauna over the coming years and decades, back to pre-fire levels.”

The locally coordinated program, funded by the Commonwealth Government, which builds on the island’s ongoing feral pig control work since the bushfires, will be led by Primary Industries and Regions SA in partnership with the Kangaroo Island Landscape Board.