Caught on cue - pigs trapped before workshop

Posted 15 July 2019.

Trapping two pigs on Martins Well the night before a Feral Pig Workshop run by the North Flinders NRM Group helped make the event a success.

Property manager Norton Warnest used his catch to demonstrate how he built the trap and enticed the pigs using free feed to the 13 landholders and DEW and PIRSA staff attending the workshop.

Presented by Troy Crittle from Biosecurity NSW and Grant Davis from Western Local Land Services, the workshop looked at recent sightings in the North East Pastoral and North Flinders Districts, new State feral pig policy, pig behaviour, pig signs and impacts, control methods and collection of samples.

The presenters raised awareness of the region’s self-sustaining pig population. In favourable conditions a female can wean two litters in a year meaning landholders need to remove 70 per cent of the population each year just to maintain the current population. They were also able to explain that for every one pig you see, there will be a lot you miss, meaning ground shooting will compromise control efforts.

By far the biggest take home message of the day was ‘free feed, free feed, free feed’, meaning the use of feeding to train feral pigs to become comfortable with a trap or bait site.

If you have issues with feral pigs on your property, talk to your district’s Community Engagement Officer to access the four traps available in the SA Arid Lands region. You will find information about PIRSA’s newly released feral pig policy and your responsibilities here