A National Feral Pig Action Plan has been endorsed by the National Biosecurity committee, taking a more co-ordinated approach to feral pig management across the country.

The strategy is the first of its kind to address feral pigs on a national level, including their financial impact on the agricultural sector and the threat they pose on livestock wellbeing. 

Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud said the strategy has been developed to address the significant impact of feral pigs on farms, environment, industries, and communities. 

“Feral pigs cost the Australian agricultural sector around $106.5 million per year - they are also a threat to livestock because they can carry foot and mouth disease and African swine fever if these biosecurity risks were to arrive in Australia,” Mr Littleproud said. 

The losses, according to the National Feral Pig Management Coordinator Dr Heather Channon, are a combination of damages to cropping, pastures, livestock and water quality. 

Dr Channon says that engaging and building on local existing communities will be key to meeting the detailed needs of each region and creating a more sustainable management strategy. 

“It has tended to be very reactive measures so far, where landholder will see an increase in populations and think about what they can do to fix it then and there," Dr Channon said.

"Those actions could be quite short term and quite sporadic. They have no plan or monitoring of the outcomes from the work being done on the ground."

Beyond creating more active participation in community groups - which will likely be within Local Land Services across the Western Plains - the plan implements practical methods of management including baiting, aerial shooting, trapping, ground shooting and exclusion fencing. 

“Unfortunately, there isn’t a quick fix to feral pig management, so we need to be able to use more than one method to effectively control populations,” Dr Channon said. 

Feral pigs currently inhabit an estimated 45 per cent of Australia, equivalent to 3.43 million square kilometres. Prior to this national plan, the management of feral pigs has been run independently by states and territories.

Despite the larger scale approach, Dr Channon says that in practice, how each method is implemented will be dependent on the local environment and conditions. 

“This plan is all about coordinating groups to work collaboratively together to apply humane, integrated best practice management to control the problem that we have,” Dr Channon said.