community based feral pig control persistence & partnerships

Community Based Feral Pig Control – Success though Patience, Persistence & Partnerships

Mark Muir and Jo Wills – Lake Muir Denbarker Community Feral Pig Eradication Group

Lake Muir Denbarker Project Area

In 2010 the Group began providing trapping services to the Northcliffe Declared Species Group – in October 2016 the management committee endorsed an amalgamation of the two groups

Our aim

To facilitate the involvement of all landholders in the Lake Muir, Denbarker and now Northcliffe areas in contributing to the initial reduction of feral pig populations and the subsequent maintenance of low pig densities

Pre feeding of pigs prior to setting traps

Trapped pigs

Feral pig impacts in agriculture

• Photos courtesy – DBCA and Alida Parke

Road verge adjacent to private property, Northcliffe WA

Farmland, Denbarker WA Farmland, Lake Muir WA

• Feeding on pastures, crops and potentially preying on young livestock• Digging – in vegetable crops such as potatoes pigs have dug through more than 5 ha in a

night, rendering the produce unsaleable• Introduction of soil and water borne pathogens and transfer of disease• Attraction of recreational hunting activities

Drosera - sundews

Calandenia Harringtoniae –Harrington’s spider orchid

Spicospina – sunset frog

Euphrasia

Feral pig impact - threatened and vulnerable flora and fauna

• Photos courtesy – DBCA

• Predation on flora and fauna, particularly small mammals and plants such as orchids and sedges

• The spread of dieback and degradation of the aesthetic qualities in the landscape

Muir ByenupWetlands

• Photos courtesy – DBCA and Alida Parke

The RAMSAR listed Muir Byenup wetlands, a system of partially interconnected lakes and swamps of varied sizes, salinity, permanence and soil composition in an internally draining catchment. This area is used by the Australian Shellduck and Australasian Bittern along with thousands of other water birds. Vegetation communities in the wet flats are among the few remaining in non coastal parts of SW Western Australia and includes natural sedgelands and rare orchids.

Indirect feral pig impacts in the natural environment

Healthy reedia population Reedia colony collapse following historical feral pig incursion

• Photos courtesy – J Liddelow - DBCA

Heavy metal laden peat soils are particularly sensitive to feral pig incursion, with soil disturbance leading to irreversible acidification

Control techniques – prefeedingof feral pigs

Prefeeding is an important part of the trapping process, food needs to be attractive, plentiful and restocked regularly to keep pigs coming to the area.

• Photos courtesy – J Liddelow - DBCA

There are two commercially available baits PigOut and HogGone – to avoid non target species consuming baits the Hog Hopper feeder can be used

Photos courtesy – ACTA and Dr Peter Adams

Control techniques – baiting / poisoning

Basic design – practical and easy to construct, finding a place where the pigs will be comfortable is an important part of successful trap placement.

Control Techniques - Trap Designs – Figure 6 weldmesh trap

Control Techniques - Trap Designs

Traps can be made in many ways, preventing escape by securing them well and either enclosing the top or making it difficult to jump is importantGates may be held open by springs, released when the pig triggers a trip wire.

Photos courtesy – M Virgo - DBCA

The door assembly may be fitted into various trap styles – camera monitoring feeds images to a mobile phone and the gate can be remotely activated once pigs are inside

Photos courtesy – Dr P Adams

Trap Designs – Matlock Gate System

Funding trends and on ground results …

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20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

180,000

200,000

Community Funding Local Government State Govt Agencies DSG Funding

Federal NRM State NRM Northcliffe

Sources of Funding for Feral Pig Control

Northcliffe funding was managed by Warren Catchment Council until 2016 and therefore sources of funding are not identifiable

Funding trends and on ground results …

Feral Pig Dispatches

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Northcliffe 184 217 183 124 128 49 49 47 66

Lake Muir 94 95 77 52 46 110 81 149 169 169 117 118 97 89 77 42 36 54

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Northcliffe 561 576 273 1178 1233 550 658 835 642

Lake Muir 1160 1136 1300 1834 1571 1468 1587 1917 1228 920 741 852

01000200030004000 Hours of on ground work

Dispatch locations - 2003 , 2010 and 2018

Lake Muir

Rocky Gully

In the early years (green) the focus was on private property and the immediate interface.

By 2010 (blue) more work was being done in DBCA estate as the project expanded and incursions reduced in some private property areas

The partnership with Northcliffe DSG started in 2010 and has seen a significant expansion of the trapping area – in the original project area, pigs are now found further from private property

Northcliffe

The legend of Iron Mike …

Iron Mike was a 110 kg boar captured during the Thermal Imaging Project led by Dr Peter Adams.

His milestones:

• April 2015 - Trapped and collared NE of Northcliffe

• In 68 days he travelled nearly 300km

• His collar stopped working around the back of Lake Muir

• November 2016 - recaptured and destroyed in roughly 10km from his first capture

Thankyou to our project partners and funders

For more information contact:

Chairman Mark Muir 0427 691 001mmuir@bordernet.com.au

Project Secretary Jo Wills 0418 909 334willsyj@westnet.com.au

DPIRD Officer Invasive Species Dr Peter Adams (08) 9368 3204 Peter.Adams@dpird.wa.gov.au

The Lake Muir Denbarker Community Feral Pig Eradication Group on ground work is supported by funding from the Western Australian Governments State Natural Resource Management Program