Chapter 30: Feral pigs in Australia and New Zealand333
generally regarded as humane and target-specific. Kill-trapping
or snaring, which have been used in some countries, are not used
in Australia because they are regarded as inhumane. Trapping
can be useful for removing problem individuals from local-
ized areas, but it is not usually useful as a broad-scale popula-
tion control tool because it is too labour-intensive to remove the
large proportion of the population needed for sustained control.
Trapping programmes are most effective if they are coordinated
across large areas and run continuously to counter immigration
from surrounding areas (e.g. Bengsen et al. 2011a). However,
large programmes such as these are usually dependent on finan-
cial and in-kind support from government, and are therefore
vulnerable to shifting political or institutional priorities and
other critical external influences (e.g. Meurk 2014).
Hunting is seen as fundamental to wild or feral pig man-
agement in most countries where pigs can be a problem, even
though it is often ineffective at suppressing population growth
(e.g. Ballari et al. 2015; Centner & Shuman 2015; Massei et al.
2015). Pig hunting with firearms or dogs and knives is a popular
recreational activity in many parts of Australia and is viewed
by many hunters and some land managers as a useful pig con-
trol tool (Reddiex et al. 2006; West & Saunders 2007). Until the
recent registration of sodium nitrite as a toxicant, most feral pig
control in New Zealand was limited to hunting. Pigs are com-
monly hunted from the ground with dogs, due to the acute New
Zealand terrain and dense forest. However, hunting with dogs
has frequently been criticized on animal welfare grounds (e.g.
Shoebridge & Hopley 2014). Moreover, studies from other parts
of the world show that it be difficult to sustain the necessary
hunting pressure to suppress well-established pig populations
(e.g. Hanson et al. 2009). This is likely to be particularly appar-
ent in the vast, sparsely populated areas of Australia where feral
pig densities are greatest, such as Cape York Peninsula in the
north-east (Figure 30.1). There is considerable uncertainty and
disagreement about the roles that hunting might play in control-
ling pigs and other pests in Australia (Bengsen & Sparkes 2016).
Bounties have been used in different jurisdictions since
the nineteenth century to try and increase hunting pressure by
providing financial compensation for hunting effort. However,
bounty systems are now uncommon because they have fre-
quently been defrauded, have not been economically sustain-
able, and have not been able to produce consistent benefits
(Choquenot et al. 1996; Meurk 2014). Similarly, a recent assess-
ment found that commercial harvesting was mostly unable to
provide sufficient pressure on feral pig populations to suppress
growth (Gentle & Pople 2013). Nonetheless, the idea of offer-
ing financial inducements as a means of improving control of
pigs and other pest animals remains popular in many rural
communities and is frequently revisited by politicians and other
representatives.Figure 30.7 Feral pig taking a
manufactured bait, adjacent to World
Heritage-listed tropical rainforest in
north Queensland. New shelf-stable
baits such as these can provide several
advantages over traditional bait media
(photo by Andrew Bengsen)..03212:55:46