Draft revised threat abatement plan for predation, habitat degradation, competition and disease transmission by feral pigs (Sus scrofa)

Feral pigs are found in all states and mainland territories of Australia, particularly around wetlands and other water bodies and along river banks.

Feral pigs are opportunistic omnivores, eating both animal and plant material. They feed on animals and animal material including small mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs, crayfish, eggs, carrion, earthworms and other invertebrates. They are known to prey heavily on marine turtle nests on beaches. They also prey heavily on freshwater turtles, digging them up when they are aestivating (lying dormant) in the mud of dried wetlands. They also feed on underground fungi and all parts of plants including fruits, seeds, roots, tubers and leaves.

Feral pigs damage native plant and animal habitats through:

• feeding on and destroying plants—sometimes to the point of threatening the existence some plant species—and causing changes in the plant species that make up vegetation communities. Feral pigs cause this through preying on seeds, tubers, roots, leaves or whole young plants, and/or changing surrounding vegetation to make it less suitable for sensitive plant species.
• altering soil structure through digging and rooting
• increasing the invasion and spread of weeds—feral pigs spread weeds through seeds contained in their faeces or attached to their fur, and help create conditions suitable for the spread of weeds by enriching the soil with urine and faeces or digging the ground
• reducing water quality, particularly in swamps and wetlands, through releasing faeces and urine in or next to the water, repeatedly digging up banks and shorelines and their vegetation, and creating new sites for weeds to establish.

Feral pigs also act as reservoirs for animal and plant diseases already present in Australia such as leptospirosis and brucellosis, and may act as vectors (“spreaders”) of animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease, should they ever reach Australia. Additionally, there is increasing evidence that feral pigs can spread exotic plant diseases such as Phytophthora cinnamomi, which causes ‘dieback’, through soil on their feet and fur, and passing viable (i.e. able to grow) Phytophthora spores in their faeces.

The Department of the Environment’s databases lists a total of 142 listed threatened species and ecological communities as being affected or threatened by feral pigs.

Public consultation

The Minister for the Environment has released the draft revised ‘Threat abatement plan for predation, habitat degradation, competition and disease transmission by feral pigs (Sus scrofa)’ for a three-month public consultation period, which closes on 24 July 2015. A background document with detailed information supporting the threat abatement plan, including biological and scientific information, has also been released.

About the threat abatement plan (TAP)

The draft plan provides a national strategy to guide the investment of funding and effort by the Australian Government, state and territory governments, research organisations and non-government organisations in managing the impacts of feral pigs on native species.

The objectives of the draft plan are to:

1. encourage the integration of feral pig management into land management activities at regional, state and territory, and national levels
2. identify and prioritise key species, ecological communities, ecosystems and locations across Australia for strategic feral pig management
3. encourage further scientific research into feral pig impacts on nationally threatened, and near-threatened, species and ecological communities, as well as research into feral pig ecology
4. raise feral pig awareness among stakeholders and build capacity for feral pig management
5. improve public awareness about feral pigs and the problems they cause, and the need for feral pig control
6. record and monitor feral pig control programs, so their effectiveness can be evaluated.

Guidelines for submissions

To provide a submission, please download the cover sheet and the comments sheet and fill in the details. Important: A cover sheet must accompany all submissions

Return BOTH the cover sheet and the comments sheet by email or post:

Email:

invasivespecies@environment.gov.au

Post:

Director
Environmental Biosecurity Section
Department of the Environment
GPO Box 787
CANBERRA  ACT  2601

For further information, or to request a hard copy of the document, please call (02) 6274 1473.

Privacy

Your views are being sought by the Department of the Environment for the purpose of informing the Threatened Species Scientific Committee and the Minister for the Environment on the draft ‘Threat abatement plan for predation, habitat degradation, competition and disease transmission by feral pigs (Sus scrofa)’ and the associated background document.

Personal information that you provide will only be used for these purposes. Personal information may be disclosed to the members of the committee, or to employees of Australian Government agencies assisting the committee for the purposes outlined above.