Bacon Busters pig hunt is an institution, a school just benefits

The Bacon Busters pig hunt is a wildly popular rural event - a school just happens to benefit, writes Tara Miko.

Harry Bruce's take on the debate over banning pig hunting. Today's Harry Bruce cartoon has been brought to you by Dawson MP George Christensen. George is a proud supporter of free speech and the ability of our cartoonists to take the mickey out of the political class. Picture: Harry Bruce

Animal activists who set their sights on a beloved pig hunting competition have come under fire for an online petition to get the fundraiser shut down.

The petition had targeted the annual Bacon Busters competition, a major fundraiser for Collinsville State High School and supported by Whitsunday Regional Council, with claims the nature of the event was “repugnant” and questions raised about the students’ involvement suitability.

The issue exploded on our social media with more than 1300 comments in 24 hours – clearly a topic that draws strong opinions.

The reality is that feral pigs exist in our region of cane fields, rivers and coast. In massive numbers.

And they cause harm to the environment, both cane farms and rivers, eroding mangroves and threatening fish species and other natural flora.

They are a pest. And each year (with the exception of 2020, like many things), Bacon Busters musters the pig hunters and culls big numbers of the them.

That a small regional high school benefits from the proceeds of the hunt should be viewed through the same lens as any other fundraiser.

It’s not about the ends justifying the means; it’s the means being a justifiable activity for the region in which it is held.

On the broader question of whether pig hunting should be banned, the response was overwhelmingly no.

Not in this region – a region of farmers who battle the elements enough as it is without adding feral pigs into the equation.

Here is what a few of you said when asked if pig hunting should be banned:

Tennille Case: No it should not be. Farmers put too much money time and sweat into making a living for these feral animals to come along and wreck it all same as rabbits

Graham Hamilton: If people could see the destruction these animals cause to our national Parks, it wouldn’t even be a question.

Nic Rodgers: No it shouldn’t and the hunting community should be applauded for organising these fundraisers.

Nathan Taylor: People need to learn that it’s OK to have different ideas and beliefs. Not everyone needs to conform to their way of thinking. Ps why would you ban something that the public does for free to benefit the country to turn around in a few years and have to include feral pig management into the federal budget.

Vaughan Moldre: If you plan a ban, you need to eradicate the pest first. Farmers wouldn’t stand a chance, crops would be destroyed everywhere.

I should also say, I can see some of the point Animal Liberation Queensland is making about students’ involvement in the fundraiser but it should be made clear here – the school hasn’t organised it.

The event would go ahead regardless, the school just benefits. And Whitsunday Regional Council, recognising the problems feral pigs make, rightly supports it.

It is a rural event with a bigger purpose and a school benefits.

And as is our right in Australia, we are free to debate such issues.

That is very much a conversation I would like to continue with you – and any issue – through our letters to the editor.

Come Friday, August 27, your Daily Mercury will be back in print so if that is your medium to share your views, drop me an email at [e-mail]

Originally published as Bacon Busters pig hunt is an institution, a school just benefits