COURIER MAIL (Melbourne, Australia) 17 January 07 Cull to save turtles (Brian Williams)
In the biggest State Government shoot-out of feral animals ever undertaken, two sharpshooters have killed 9500 feral pigs on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula in just six weeks.
The helicopter mounted marksmen were brought in by the Government in a desperate effort to stem a crisis on the remote coastline where feral pigs are decimating sea turtle numbers.
About five species of turtle – some endangered – nest on remote Cape York beaches and feral pigs are so thick that in some rookeries there are reports that every nest of eggs have been eaten.
Department of Natural Resources senior zoologist Jim Mitchell said yesterday the aim had been to reduce pig numbers as much as possible immediately before the Christmas-time nesting began.
"On some mainland sites we've recorded up to 100 per cent predation although the average is about 70 per cent," Dr Mitchell said.
The shoot was organised between the DNR, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Injinoo and Mapoon Aboriginal communities with sharpshooters from the Cape York Weeds and Feral Animals Program.
Wildlife Preservation Society spokesman Des Boyland supported the cull.
"We'd like to see QPWS deal with all feral animals, especially horses in national parks. Obviously such action should be taken humanely but feral animals are the second biggest threat to conservation of our biodiversity after land clearing," he said.
RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty said his organisation accepted that feral animals had to be culled and a professional shooter making clean head shots was one of the most humane ways.
"But we are wary about aerial culling because we've seen it go wrong with brumbies," Mr Beatty said.
"We'd prefer culling be done on the ground."
Dr Mitchell said the shoot was conducted under strict guidelines, including checks to make sure no animals were left wounded.
The Injinoo and Mapoon communities had at first been against the shoot because pigs are a major food source.
Community members are assessing turtle hatchling numbers to determine how well it worked.
The shoot was conducted on a 2-3km wide beachside strip of land from the tip of Cape York about 600km south to Kowanyama.
"Most of our other shoots are pretty small although we did a big one on Rutland Plains station a couple of years ago where we shot 3700 pigs in two days," Dr Mitchell said.
High numbers can be shot quickly because pigs gather around waterholes.
They are also easily herded by low-flying helicopters and shooters using semi-automatic rifles.
In 1992 10 soldiers shot 420 feral cats in three days in Queensland's far west to protect endangered bilbies.
Dr Mitchell said it would not take long for pigs to return to beaches in large numbers with the region the most heavily infested place in Australia with a pig population of two to three million.
Reports this week of pigs being close to towns such as Rockhampton and Cairns were not unusual and a result of dry conditions or low food, Dr Mitchell said.
Many pigs had been seen in areas of north Queensland flattened by a cyclone last year but this was because cleared canefields and rainforest allowed better visibility.
He said there was no evidence of an explosion in pig numbers. Rather, numbers probably had fallen due to a lack of food.
Cull to save turtles