AUSTRALIAN Pork Limited is calling on the federal government to co-ordinate a nationwide feral pig cull, with the 15 million-plus feral pig population posing a huge risk should African swine fever arrive on our shores.
APL chief executive officer Margo Andrae says widespread drought in eastern Australia and pastoral WA has created an ideal chance to start a co-ordinated eradication campaign across all states.
Options APL wants on the drawing board include a possible wild pig bounty; a co-ordinated control strategy similar to the national brucellosis blitz in the 1970s and '80s; more research on feral pig management and community attitudes to controlling pigs, and exclusion fencing programs to keep ferals out of farms and national parks.
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