Landholders in the Western region wanting to control feral pigs are being encouraged to consider meat baiting, with those that participated in the recent control program for wild dogs eligible to obtain pig strength meat baits which are not currently available throughout wider NSW.
With Western Local Land Services receiving increased reports of feral pig numbers and activity due to favourable seasonal conditions, Senior Biosecurity Officer, Grant Davis is reminding landholders in the Western region that pig strength meat baiting is a great tool for controlling feral pigs.
"Landholders in the Western region should be looking at a number of tools for feral pig control such as meat baiting, grain poisoning, shooting and trapping," Mr Davis said.
"For any landholders that participated in our recent baiting program for wild dogs, or who were involved in a baiting program for wild dogs or foxes on their property in the last six months, they can use pig strength meat baits which offers more effective control.
"Feral pigs are a massive impost on the primary production of landholders, they spread disease and impact the environment, so they are a pest species that need to be continually monitored and controlled.
"Landholders wanting further information about pig strength meat baits, the conditions of use, and other options for control, should contact their local biosecurity officer."
The use of pig strength meat baits is only available to landholders in the Western Local Land Services region and comes following a research trial that was carried out by Western Local Land Services in Broken Hill in 2015 and Hungerford in 2017 and 2018.
The trial found there was little to no adverse outcomes when using a 500-gram meat bait with 2.4 ml of sodium fluoroacetate (commonly known as 1080, pronounced 'ten eighty').
Following the trials, a permit was issued by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority to use 500-gram meat bait with 2.4 ml of 1080 poison in the Western Local Land Services region. The permit was granted on 1 April 2019 and expires on 30 April 2024, and comes with strict conditions for use.
