Feral pig population control techniques: A review and discussion of efficacy and efficiency for application in Queensland

Abstract

Feral pigs (Sus scrofa) are found across 45% of the Australian continent (West, 2008) and are regarded as a pest species in all states and territories of Australia. Their wide-ranging impacts are felt across the agricultural (Pavlov et al., 1981; Choquenot et al., 1997; Gentle et al., 2015), environmental (Lynes and Campbell, 2000; Hone, 2002; Setter et al., 2002; Fordham et al., 2006; Mitchell et al., 2007; Mitchell, 2010; Webber et al., 2010; Taylor et al., 2011) and human health sectors (Eales et al., 2010; Massey et al., 2011). As a result, feral pigs are often targeted in lethal control programs aiming to suppress their impacts. Such control has been widely documented in the scientific literature with varying data available on control effort, cost and outcomes across multiple methods and study locations. A review of feral pig literature is necessary to examine the outcomes and likely factors influencing the success of control programs using different control tools. The aim of this literature review is to identify feral pig control techniques and summarise their associated population reductions and briefly discuss the factors that may have influenced the achieved reductions. Where available, the feral pig density, and control efforts and costs from each campaign are also provided.