The number of feral pigs in the district is starting to decline after reaching historically high levels earlier this year.
Feral pigs are a significant problem in the North West, with a Local Land Services (LLS) survey indicating pigs caused $2.6 million worth of crop damage in the Moree Shire last financial year.
LLS Biosecurity Officer, Shaun Slattery, Narrabri, says numbers have since fallen due to the dry conditions.
“We had those three flood years in a row, and the pigs bred up quickly, but it’s now a lot drier so this is reducing numbers to some degree,” he explained.
“We’ve noticed a drop in the level of enquiry about pigs and less people are after the bait we’re distributing.”
Poisoning pigs with 10-80 bait is considered the most effective control method when numbers are dense, but shooting and trapping are also used.
Mr. Slattery says baiting projects are good indicators of how many pigs are living in an area.
“We recently poisoned 1500 kilograms of grain at Pallamallawa, and generally one kilo of poisoned grain will kill one pig, so that was 1500 pigs killed in a small area,” he said.
“Aerial shooting has a role, but that’s only when you’ve already done a lot of baiting and you’re cleaning up those remaining pigs, it’s also helpful for areas where you can’t bait.”
A survey to quantify crop losses due to feral pigs will also be conducted in the Narrabri Shire in coming months.