19 June 2019

No sitting on the fence to protect wetlands from feral pigs

Fences meant to exclude feral pigs from tropical wetlands may be doing more harm than good if the fences are not properly maintained, according to research published by Hub researcher Peter Negus and others.

Feral pigs cause significant physical damage to the ecological and cultural values of northern Australian wetlands by wallowing and rooting for food. Exclusion fences are one way to keep pigs out of high value areas but this work in north Queensland’s Archer River catchment shows that when these fences are incomplete or damaged, they may result in more pig damage than no fence at all – possibly because once inside a compromised fence, pigs may be ‘trapped’ for longer than they would otherwise stay.

For more information, contact Peter Negus at Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science. This work is part of a larger Hub project led by Dr Justin Perry of CSIRO that’s determining the impact of large feral animals across aquatic systems in the north.

Feral pigs cause significant physical damage to the ecological and cultural values of northern Australian wetland