Farmers, hunters and authorities take aim at feral pigs destroying NSW properties

Out bush, a war is being waged against a feral pig plague that is wreaking havoc on crops and agricultural land while posing a serious biosecurity risk.

A war is being waged in rural NSW where farmers, hunters and government are locked in a battle against a feral pig plague that has devastated crops, destroyed fields and killed off lambs and calves.

Traps are being laid and baits dropped in “kill zones” as some of the country’s best licensed shooters and hunters also come together to outsmart an animal which can grow to up to 140kg in weight – “as big as footballers” – and which they collectively describe as “intelligent”, “cunning” and “a pain in the arse”.

It is a battle that has been waged for the past five years in response to pig numbers exploding after the end of the drought, but has been stepped up in the past four months after the Minns government threw $13m at the problem amid growing biosecurity concerns.

Blood tests have shown some pigs are carrying diseases that can be transmitted to humans, livestock and dogs.

Feral pigs are causing chaos in regional NSW.

The funding has enabled the Feral Animal Aerial Shooting Team (FAAST) – a multi-agency group of the State’s best shooters and mustering pilots – to launch a full scale assault with the aerial culling crews now killing up to 300 pigs a day.

The Saturday Telegraph can reveal the air assault – along with stepped up ground trapping and baiting – has ­removed more than 32,000 pigs from the State’s “feral hotspots” in just four months.

NSW Feral Pig Co-ordinator Bec Gray, who was appointed to the role last year as part of the funding injection, said the rate of removal was expected to surpass previous efforts.

“Last year, we got 85-86,000 in the whole year so 32,000 in four months is a big effort,” she said.

Up to 300 pigs are being killed daily.

The numbers of pigs could be as high as 100 million.

“It’s really, really hard to estimate how many there are – it ranges from four million to a hundred million nationally, so we focus on what impacts they are having.

“They do carry diseases – the blood tests show leptospirosis and brucellosis is common in them. We really want to get on top of the problem and the funding for this year has helped intensify our ­efforts.”

Shooter Mal Leeson, who heads up FAAST – a partnership between Local Land Services, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), and the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) – said the biggest challenge in keeping numbers down was the rate at which the pigs were breeding, with a sow producing up to three litters a year with each comprising up to 8-10 young.

Mr Leeson, who estimates he has shot more than 60,000 pigs and other feral animals in his 25 year career, said the favourable conditions meant it was not uncommon to see feral pigs grow to up to 140kg in weight – “as big as footballers”.

Brodie Leeson, Jake Tanner, Mal Leeson and Ben Woodhouse are trying to reduce numbers of feral pigs running wild in regional NSW.

To try to reduce numbers, the FAAST crews were currently shooting up to 10 hours a day, he said.

“A good shot causes death immediately,” he said.

“We target the heart and lung area. It is done humanely with the welfare of the animal in mind.”

“It can be tricky in certain terrain, but we use pilots that have years of experience in mustering animals. Twenty metres is the average range for shooting animals, but it depends if there is high timber.”

Tamworth farmer Norm Thomas has been battling rogue pigs on his property for the past five years, and has seen them eat his newborn lambs.

The pigs have recently left the property, but like a horror movie, he is expecting them to return any day.

“After the drought, when the good season came, they came with it, and we’ve been battling ever since,” Mr Thomas said.

“We’ve lost over 120 lambs. What they do is sit and wait until a ewe goes down to lamb, and then eats the lamb as its being born.

“They’re cunning old chaps. It’s costing me thousands to try and control them. My biggest concern is the disease they carry. A lot of government programs tend to come and go. To reduce the pig problem, it needs to be sustained.”

The feral pigs have been described to be as big as footballers.

Coolah farmer Tom Dunlop reckons the pigs are the “smartest animals you’ll ever meet”.

“They’re a real pain in the arse,” he said.

“We are a mixed farming operation – cropping, sheep, cattle – and the pigs have been a constant problem for the last two years.

“I trap, I bait, I shoot, I helicopter shoot to try and ­eliminate them, but they love my sorghum. I have another chopper coming on Sunday – it will be the second shoot in eight weeks – and the surrounding properties are doing the same. It costs $1600 an hour plus ammunition. The helicopter pilots’ phones are running off the hook. It’s getting very costly for us.”

Mr Dunlop said farmers could only do so much, claiming the pigs were breeding in national parks and on Crown land.

Sydney-based pig hunter Kerry Booth is in his seventies, but he is still taking up jobs “for free” from property owners who need a hand.

Mr Booth, who has been charged four times – “I nailed each one before they got me” – said the more hunters the government had, the more pigs that could be killed.

However, he admits there are a “smaller element” of “rogue people” that could cause problems.

“It’s a dangerous thing. If you did the wrong thing, you could kill someone. And the pigs charge you,” he said.

“Pigs are also smart. As smart as dogs. They read the situation, think things through – they do, really. They watch you carefully, stay quiet and trot out when you’ve walked past.

“Yes, I’m a hunter but I don’t go racing around shooting at them madly. I look for water, or dug up areas -they’ll dig up the size of a tennis court in a day looking for worms – and wait.”

Along with aerial culling, the feral pig program under way is also training farmers with the latest tools to combat the plague, while also offering free pesticide training and fully subsidised 1080 poison.

NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said the government was determined to reduce pig numbers, and declared there would be an “ongoing effort” to protect western NSW farms and crops.

“There was an obvious need for action and that’s why I have made sure there is resources and a commitment to getting the job done,” she said. “I am committed not just for this year, but to an ongoing effort to protect western NSW farms and crops.”

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