Green snags and simulated pig noises are being used to keep feral pigs from tearing up the Daintree Rainforest.
UQ PhD student Andrew Bengsen has trialled new green, sausage-shaped baits that target wild pigs but are not eaten by most of the other 300 odd animals that inhabit the rainforest.
“Feral pigs are a huge problem up here both environmentally and economically,” Mr Bengsen said.
“They chew up huge areas of the forest. It looks like the Western Front in some areas. They knock over rows of banana trees and tear up pastures for cattle.”
Mr Bengsen said he was trying to make poisoning an option for feral pig control as trapping only had a limited, localised effect due to their rapid reproduction.
He has trialled non-toxic versions of the baits, developed by Animal Control Technologies Australia and the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre (IACRC), in the rainforest and in surrounding banana plantation and cattle properties.
The baits are green cylinders that weigh about 250 grams, are 10 centimetres long and made of fishmeal and grains.
“Having animal and vegetable products in it, deters specialist feeders such as wallabies and other strict herbivores. Pigs are happy to eat anything,” he said.
They are coloured green to deter animals that use colours to identify food and are buried 10 centimetres below the forest floor so only pigs can smell and dig them up, while most other animals don’t.
“Small animals like rodents will have a nibble on the outside of the bait and they’ll be full, but the toxic core would be put inside the centre of the bait so the animal has to eat the whole bait or tunnel right into it in order to be poisonous.”
Mr Bengsen said there were still eight species that ate the baits but was considering adding chemical repellents for birds and other animals and using sounds of pigs feeding to deter rodents and bandicoots.
“There is anecdotal evidence that some of these animals will avoid areas where pigs are actively feeding.
“Pigs also use information from other pigs to locate food so they’ll follow trails and sounds from other pigs.
“We’re hoping that these sounds of happy pigs feeding will draw other pigs into the area and enhance their bait encounter rate.”
Mr Bengsen, 34, from Mossman, has won a national award for his research — the inaugural CEO’s Prize for Excellence as an IACRC Student.
He won a $3000 travel grant, which he said would probably go towards attending the Wildlife Society Conference in the United States next year.
Mr Bengsen is studying full-time by remote access through UQ's School of Animal Studies and is on IACRC and Australian Postgraduate Award scholarships.
He is part of a UQ team working on a four-year-project to control pigs in tropical rainforests.
His team mates are Amanda Elledge who is studying the pigs’ environmental impacts and Carla Meurk who is studying feral pig management.
They are led by Iain Gordon in a group project for UQ, the IACRC and CSIRO’s Division of Sustainable Ecosystems.
Mr Bengsen is based with the Davies laboratory in CSIRO’s Townsville office.
MEDIA: Mr Bengsen (0438 746 294, 4098 3458, Andrew.bengsen@csiro.au) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (3365 2619)
