Pigs descend on Saunders Beach from abandoned factory site
Herds of feral pigs have started raiding a Townsville suburb under the cover of darkness, and locals believe they’re coming from an abandoned factory site.
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Desperate residents are begging for an end to night-time raids from tusked pests, after they began experiencing constant visits from herds of feral hogs.
According to residents, the pigs are emerging from the former Queensland Nickel Refinery site, which went into voluntary administration in 2016.
Since then, Saunders Beach residents have been dealing with fluctuating pig numbers, which seem to have peaked again recently.
On May 31, resident Jennifer Foley put out a warning on the ‘Saunders Beach Community’ page that there were pigs digging up footpaths on Lagoon Crescent, and early morning motorcyclists should be careful.
One week later she posted pictures of huge pig diggings around Lagoon Crescent.
“The pigs are getting more active and closer to the houses,” she said.
Nine days after Jennifer’s warning, a resident on Cay St, Peter Greenough, shared CCTV footage of pigs digging in his front yard at night.
“Any advice would be greatly appreciated,” he said.
“I’ve had pigs in front yard, Cay St, for a couple of weeks.”
In late June another resident posted pictures of pig diggings on the sand dunes in front of their house.
“It is very devastating that this is continuing to disrupt our community, council and Yabulu (QNI) have been notified on numerous occasions and still nothing seems to be happening,” Suzanne Saul said.
“Imagine if this happened to a suburb in town. It would have been nipped in the bud.”
One resident, Margaret Covolo, said she was initially upset when she saw her front yard dug up but on closer inspection she realised the pigs had dug up and eaten the nut grass.
“I planted grass in its place and they haven’t come back for weeks,” she said.
The last time Saunders Beach faced a major pig population program was in 2021, when residents got close to breaking point and a cull was finally completed on the former QNI land.
At the time, Townsville City councillor Sue Blom reported council had removed “70 feral pigs” from the Yabulu refinery land and encouraged those with damaged private land to “contact the refinery to help in restoration”.
Speaking this week, a Townsville City Council spokesman said feral pig populations are able to “grow rapidly” following favourable weather conditions, such as the wet season the region just experienced.
“Townsville City Council recently conducted an aerial feral animal survey in the Black River, Bluewater, Saunders Beach, and Toolakea areas following multiple reports from the community,” they said.
“Off the back of the survey, Council is currently undertaking a trapping program targeting feral pigs in the northern suburbs of Townsville to aid in effective management.”
The QNI site is currently owned by Zero Carbo Investek, a Swiss consortium who bought out Clive Palmer’s shares in QNI in 2022.
In January, 2025, the state government announced a $117m investment in pest control - however, most of it was aimed toward “supporting landowners” to control weeds and animals on their own land.
Feral pigs are also known to tear up gardens and wander over roads in Pallarenda and the Bohle Industrial Estate when they come off Town Common land.
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Originally published as Pigs descend on Saunders Beach from abandoned factory site
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