Australia's battle against wild boars
Wild pigs are destroying farmland and forest. Controlling them is becoming serious business.
from the October 29, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
But amateur hunters are struggling to control pig numbers, and the battle is increasingly turning professional – hence the demand for Smith's services. Farmers pay him thousands of dollars to eliminate pigs from their land.
"They're a terrible pest," says Robert Collins, a veteran sugarcane farmer who employs Boar Busters.
"In more open country you can shoot them from helicopters, but here in the scrub [rain forest] you can't even see them."
Farmers are being financially hit by the depredations of pigs, which lay waste sugar cane and tropical fruit plantations. They are so robust that they can charge through electric fences.
Some banana farmers have lost up to 40 percent of their crop to marauding pigs. "In this region alone, losses are well into the millions," says Mr. Thomas.
Nationwide, the annual agricultural damage is estimated to be costing over A $100 million.
As well as raiding farms, the pigs compete for wild fruit with animals such as the cassowary, a giant flightless bird with a dangerously powerful kick.
"Only 1,200 remain in the wild in Australia, which makes them rarer than the giant panda," says Roger Phillips, head of the Australian Rainforest Foundation.
With their bright red-and-blue facial markings, cassowaries are physically striking, but they are also key to the health of the rain forest because they disperse the seeds of over a 100 species of tree. The seeds will only grow if they have passed through the cassowary's gut.
In Queensland's Daintree rain forest, a UN-designated World Heritage area, there are more tree species per hectare than in the whole of North America. Many rely on the cassowary for propagation.
"They'll eat fruit the size of a cricket ball and five minutes later deposit it in a nice little steaming pile of its own fertilizer," Mr. Phillips says.
"Trapping won't solve the feral pig problem – it's like the little boy with his finger in the dam trying to hold back the water. But at least we can remove pigs from critical cassowary habitat and try to hold the line."
Eradicating pigs from Australia would be impossible, say wildlife experts and government agencies. They are too numerous, they breed too quickly, and they are entrenched in some of the country's wildest and most inaccessible terrain.
"They're also very smart," Smith says as he winds up another long day chasing his formidable foe. "They have the cognitive development of a 3-year-old child. I've got a pretty healthy respect for them. People think they're dumb animals, but they're really not."
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