National Feral Pig Action Plan
South Australia
Find out more about feral pigs projects taking place across South Australia.
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Kangaroo Island
Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia – Kangaroo Island Feral Pig Eradication
Location: Kangaroo Island, South Australia
The eradication of feral pigs across private and public land, parks, reserves, forestry and agricultural farmland on Kangaroo Island using a coordinated landscape approach is being supported by funding from the SA Disaster Rebuilding and Resilience Program, with co-investment from the Commonwealth Government.
The scale and intensity of the 2020 bushfires has provided a unique opportunity to eradicate feral pigs from the island before the dense vegetation on Kangaroo Island recovers from the recent bushfires.
In September 2020, a Kangaroo Island Feral Pig Control Coordinator commenced with the Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA) for an initial two year period as part of the $2.67m funding for this project, with support to be provided through the Kangaroo Island Landscape Board. The Coordinator will facilitate and lead landscape scale control and build supportive partnerships with stakeholders to support collaborative efforts to control feral pigs and provide biosecurity protection for the island.
An action plan for the Kangaroo Island feral pig eradication program is being developed and a steering committee has been established, with membership to include local stakeholder representatives and the National Feral Pig Management Co-ordinator.
Port Augusta
Location: Port Augusta, South Australia
The SA Arid Land region covers over 525,000 square kilometres; more than half of South Australia’s landmass and has the largest percentage of intact ecosystems and natural biodiversity in the state.
Feral pigs are present within this region, following inland, seasonally flooded water courses from NSW, and major drainage channels within South Australia. In some cases, feral pigs utilise stock water points and troughs enabling them to remain in the area as the country dries up. Landscape officers work with land managers to support vertebrate pest management programs and encourage communication of sightings of feral pig presence to neighbours. It is expected that the erection of the wild dog fence along the SA-NSW border, will be helpful in supporting feral pig control activities in this region.
Entrenched feral pig populations are also present in the Goyder Lagoon, located in the southern end of the Diamantina River floodplain. Ground access is limited to this enormous area of shallow creeks, alluvial flats and flood outs with feral pigs utilising the dense vegetation comprised of chenopod shrubland, lignum, and coolabah woodlands . Feral pigs are also found along the Cooper Creek and Coongie Lakes in the Innamincka region with aerial culling over the last decade keeping pigs at low numbers.
In 2017, a landholder perceptions survey conducted in the North East Pastoral, North Flinders identified that:
- Strong emphasis is placed on early intervention to control feral pigs to stop numbers building up
- Landholders use a range of techniques used include shooting, trapping and baiting to control feral pigs and would like to be able to source locally relevant information on best practice control methods.
- The incidence of feral pigs is higher in the North East Pastoral than the North Flinders districts.
- Landholders would benefit from a data base that provides up to date feral pig sightings to assist in on-ground management
- A majority of respondents don’t consider feral pigs to have major impacts on their property due to low population numbers and seasonal movement
- Landholders indicated concern that feral pigs would have an impact on lambing percentages if numbers increased.
- Impacts reported by landholders included production and environmental impacts.
Riverland
Location: Riverland, South Australia
The Riverland region of South Australia, along the River Murray corridor, is recognised for its irrigated horticultural production: citrus, almonds, stone fruit and viticulture. With the lack of a physical barrier, feral pigs utilise the River Murray corridor, creek beds and islands, taking refuge in national parks and wetlands. While population density is unknown, primary producers experience damage to production and infrastructure by feral pigs. They also negatively impact managed wetlands, detracting from the positive effects of environmental watering programs.
Trapping, drone surveillance, tracking dogs and ground shooting are the primary methods used to control pigs. Aerial shooting is not feasible due to the high human population densities in the region. Constant effort to control pigs is required to keep population levels low and supress feral pig impact. Feral pigs also predate on turtle nests which affects the freshwater turtle populations.