Gold Coast school feral pig sighting sees council crack down on invading parasites

Feral pigs have rarely been seen on the Gold Coast in recent years, but a bumper breeding season has worried the council and local sugarcane growers.

Gold Coast adviser Mark Hammel said invasive animals had recently been spotted in northern suburbs, including Jacobs Well, Ormeau, Norwell and Alberton.

“Wild pigs in numbers like that, it has been a few decades since so many wild pigs have been seen.

“It is absolutely a concern for local agricultural producers in the region.

The concern is that the wild pests will damage the sugar cane fields on the northern fringe of the city.

Cr Hammel, who lives on a rural property in the north of the Gold Coast, said the weather conditions likely led to the increase in feral pig numbers.

“The six months of wet weather that we had at the start of the year during the summer … perfect for breeding,†he said.

“This number of digits that jump so quickly can only really be explained by a wonderful breeding season for them.

Cr Hammel said there had to be a joint effort between the council’s Vector Security, which is the local government’s equivalent of Biosecurity Queensland, and local cane producers.

“We have also seen these pigs in a few schools,†he said.

“There have been several sightings at LORDS (Lutheran Ormeau Rivers District School) just by the Pimpama River.

The feral pigs are believed to breed in the thick bush along the Pimpama River and there are concerns that they may spread to nearby sugar cane fields.

Cr Hammel said farmers previously slaughtered or baited feral pigs when their numbers increased in the 1980s.

“The chemical used in the bait wasn’t particularly good for the rest of the environmental (food) chain, so it was dropped,†he said.

“There are now new, more environmentally friendly bait options that are only lethal to feral pigs and will not affect other animals.

“It could be a combination of the two, so it will be something that biosecurity looks at while working with landowners.”

Queensland Canegrowers chief executive Dan Galligan said feral pigs are a huge problem in the upstate and it is unusual to have high numbers in the north of the Gold Coast.

“Once you put pigs in the cane, they can eat a lot of it and they can nest in the cane.

“This is usually the coverage provided by the culture.”

The CEO of Canegrowers said a recent survey of farmers, in the hardest hit areas of the state, found they were spending several hours a week trying to control the number of pigs.

“Once they start to breed in these areas, they are a real problem.”

Hunting is not an option

Cr Hammel warned that the increase in the feral pig population at the northern end of the Gold Coast did not warrant a response from recreational hunters.

“Compared to 30 years ago, there are now a lot of residential areas very close to the sugar cane fields,†he said.

“Anyone who has the idea that they might come down and seek to trap or kill feral pigs in the area, remember that you will be going on private property and that is trespassing.

The adviser said experts would treat wild animals sensitively.

Cr Hammel said the pigs also posed a risk to drivers, with the animals being sighted along busy Norwell roads.

“We will certainly caution locals or visitors to the area who travel along Norwell Road at night or especially in the morning or at dusk,” he said.

“Be very careful with wild pigs because they can damage any vehicle.