Minns flags recruiting bounty hunters to kill pests

Bounty hunters could be paid to scour the countryside for feral animals, in new changes being considered by the Minns government to control pest populations.

Millions of feral pigs are causing damage to farmland and national park across the state. Image: NSW

Bounty hunters could be paid to scour the countryside for feral animals, in new changes being considered by the Minns government to control pest populations.

Yet invasive species organisations have criticised the move, suggesting such reforms would do little to reduce pest populations.

In a controversial move, Premier Chris Minns said the government was open to reforms allowing recreational shooters to collect bounties for feral animals such as rabbits, foxes and wild pigs.

“I think it’s about time we start thinking about novel ways of reducing the feral goat, the feral pig, the feral cat population, which has really taken over a lot of parks,” Mr Minns told Triple M Coffs Coast radio on Tuesday.

NSW Premier Chris MInns said he was open to introducing a bounty scheme for pest animals. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

“I think we should be open to bounties and other things, because we’ve got a lot of recreational shooters out there that are actually getting rid of a lot of pests roaming our native vegetation.”

The move hearkens back to the large rabbit trapping industry of the 19th and early 20th century, where trappers would be paid to hunt rabbits across the state.

In Victoria, a bounty system has been introduced for foxes, offering hunters $14 per fox scalp. Additionally some local councils in Queensland have been known to offer bounties for some feral animals.

The NSW Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party has been pushing for a bounty system, with the Shooters MP Robert Borsak in January calling for the introduction of a $2 million bounty system.

Critics have said bounty schemes are ineffective and open to fraudulent activity. Picture: supplied.

Invasive Species Council chief executive Jack Gough called the NSW government’s willingness to look at bounty reforms was “a dirty deal with the Shooters Party for votes and has nothing to do with good feral animal management”.

“The government’s own agricultural department has been briefing against this because bounty schemes are ineffective at getting feral animal populations down and are often riddled with fraud,” he said.

Mr Gough said in order to stop feral populations growing around 35 per cent of the goat populations, 57 per cent of cats and up to 70 per cent of wild pigs would need to be culled.

“These are not weekend hunting targets – they require serious, co-ordinated programs led by professionals,” he said

“The schemes are also riddled with fraud and encourage inhumane and ineffective control methods.”

The state’s farming peak body, NSW Farmers is more open to a bounty system but said there needed to be multiple solutions to get the state’s pests under control.

NSW Farmers president Xavier Martin said government’s needed to support farmers by doing better to tackle pests in national parks.

“There’s no one-stop shop solution to controlling pest animals of any kind, and we’ll need a variety of control methods to get these feral animals in check,” he said.

“Certainty of funding and multi-pronged strategies is what we need and this must be co-ordinated on a local level and supported by state local and federal governments.”

Originally published as Minns flags recruiting bounty hunters to kill pests