Explosion in feral pig numbers attributed to major flooding in far north SA

Content warning: This story contains a graphic image of a dead animal.

Station owners and the Invasive Species Council are calling for funding and action to tackle a boom in feral pig numbers in outback South Australia.

Floodwater in the area for months and ongoing rain have created perfect breeding conditions for the invasive pest to reproduce and to spread into new areas.

The pigs carry several diseases that affect humans, wildlife and other animals.

The local landscape board is concerned about the damage being done to a Ramsar-listed wetland that provides a haven for migratory birds from around the world.

Call for funding

James Johnston of the Invasive Species Council said in the wake of eradicating all feral pigs from Kangaroo Island, the South Australian government needed to urgently address the growing pig numbers in the north of the state and request federal disaster relief funding to address the problem.

There are thought to be as many as 2.3 million feral pigs in Queensland, where they are the state’s most widespread and damaging pest animal.

While South Australia is estimated to have far fewer pigs, Mr Johnston said there was evidence they were moving into the north of the state from Queensland.

The program that successfully eradicated feral pigs from Kangaroo Island cost $7.5 million.

It was jointly funded by the federal and state governments and Livestock SA and included disaster relief funding.

Mr Johnston estimated the cost of controlling the pigs in the wake of the floods could be about $3 million, and he called on the government to "come to the table" and apply what it had learned from Kangaroo Island to the north of the state.

Large mobs in new areas

On Dulkaninna, a 2,000-square-kilometre station eight hours north of Adelaide, owner David Bell has never seen feral pigs in such large numbers.

He said he had counted mobs of up to 40 or 50 pigs in areas that were previously pig-free.

"We definitely need to jump onto it because they're … going to explode in a minute," he said.

He said the Dingo Fence, which ran near his property, was "more of an invasive species fence" with pigs regularly being spotted along it.

A few hours up the road, when accessible, from Dulkaninna, Sharon Oldfield of Cowarie Station agreed with Mr Bell that the pigs were booming and moving.

"We noticed they're actually starting to come off the rivers and onto other land systems on the properties," she said.

Ms Oldfield said she "absolutely" supported the call by the Invasive Species Council for the state government to try to access disaster funding to help landowners tackle the feral pig problem.

She said the state government seemed to be "floundering a little bit" with its response to the floods.

"If we can actually get some disaster relief money to try and get on top of this or try and manage it a bit, it would be excellent because it's a big area,"

Ms Oldfield said.

"We have an opportunity at the moment to try and get in there and do something about it."

Disease and risk to wildlife

SA Arid Lands Landscape Board general manager Jodie Gregg-Smith said as well as being destructive to the environment, the pigs posed a health and biosecurity risk and spread diseases such as brucellosis and Japanese encephalitis virus.

The risk of bird flu was also a concern, as was the damage being done to the fragile habitat for migratory birds at the Ramsar-listed Coongie Lakes in the north-east of the state.

"Nothing in South Australia has been invested through the Disaster Recovery Fund towards biosecurity threats," she said.

"Now we've got a double whammy with the risks, heightened risks of bird flu, but also the spread of other diseases that we detect in these pigs."

Plan for statewide strategy

Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven said dealing with feral pigs was a "big priority" and she had asked her department to develop a feral pig statewide strategy.

However, she said the situation on the mainland was "always going to be a bit different" to that on Kangaroo Island.

While the floods had helped eradicate some feral pigs in the north of the state, what was effective on the island was not necessarily going to work elsewhere.

"We continue to work, obviously, to try and look at how these pest animals can be managed and hopefully, at some stage in the future, eliminated," she said.

"And we want to make sure that we do utilise the learnings from what we've seen on Kangaroo Island … and continue to work … with landholders … landscape boards, livestock [boards] and so on."