Pig shooters called on to target foot-and-mouth disease spread

By day he’s a carpenter, but it’s Shane Young’s night-time gig that inadvertently puts him at the rearguard of Australia’s biosecurity battleground.

Professional pig shooter Shane Young outside Mount Isa ... wild pig numbers have soared after good rain in recent years. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

By day he’s a carpenter, but it’s Shane Young’s night-time gig that inadvertently puts him at the rearguard of Australia’s biosecurity battleground.

Professional pig hunters such as Mr Young are being called on to help reduce the numbers of feral animals capable of spreading foot-and-mouth disease.

He says wild pig numbers have swelled in the past two years after decent rain around his Queensland home town of Mt Isa.

“There are a lot more around,” Mr Young said.

“Our rainfall has been pretty good, which usually means all the feral species are around more.”

Professional pig shooter Shane Young with his rifle and old Land Cruiser. Pig shooters are going to be crucial in the efforts to contain foot and mouth disease as pigs are the super spreaders which will have the greatest impact on the spread of the disease. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Feral pigs destroy crops, pasture and dams, and can even kill young livestock. But it is their susceptibility to diseases such as foot-and-mouth, African swine fever and Japanese encephalitis virus that has led a fresh push for enhanced eradication.

“I’ve heard property owners are worried about it because if it gets into the pigs and can spread to their cattle, it’s uncontrollable,” Mr Young said of foot-and-mouth disease, which is yet to reach Australia but has been detected in Indonesia.

Australian farmers have called on governments to fund feral pig culls to thin numbers to help limit their potential role as vectors of the disease.

Katter’s Australia Party leader Robbie Katter said culling feral pigs should be done strategically and that everyone, from professional and amateur pig hunters to farmers, councils, governments and landcare groups, had a role to play. He called for pig hunters to be given access to national parks and state forests, a bounty program, grants for farmers and government-funded aerial shooting.

“It really has to be a ‘pull out all stops’ approach, because they (pigs) are winning,” Mr Katter said.

“Everyone wants to feel warm and fuzzy about the environment but they seem to forget one of the biggest environmental pests we’ve got is feral pigs.

“Throw biosecurity in the mix and it should be an absolute no-brainer for more effort to go into that space.”

The NSW government will launch a “spring offensive program” to encourage landholders to target feral pigs.

NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders called on farmers to “ramp up control efforts by participating in baiting and trapping on private land and allowing aerial culls”.

“If FMD did enter NSW, the danger of the disease spreading from property to property through feral animals is real, particularly following back-to-back seasons of favourable conditions for pests,” he said.

“Co-ordinated pest management, in collaboration with landholders, is the only way to get on top of feral populations, which is particularly important in preparedness for a potential outbreak of FMD in Australia.”

According to the National Feral Pig Action Plan, overseas studies have shown wildlife has a limited role in the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, but the group says the large size of Australia’s feral pig population presents an unknown factor. “Further work would be needed to determine the potential role Australia’s large feral pig population could play in spreading FMD if an outbreak occurs here,” the action plan says.

Queensland Agriculture Minister Mark Furner said four regionally based feral pig management co-ordinators will be employed in Queensland to focus on feral pig suppression.

“They will develop cross-boundary collaborations, establish strategic and operational plans, and foster partnerships to help build local capability to undertake the strategic destruction of feral pig populations during an exotic disease incursion,” Mr Furner said.

There have also been calls for further culling of wild goats, cattle and water buffalo, which can all carry foot-and-mouth disease.