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Thick forest vegetation – a perfect hiding place for feral pigs. Photos: Primary Industries and Regions South Australia
Surveillance and monitoring of feral pigs
EARLIER this month, the National Feral Pig Action Plan team held a virtual stakeholder forum that addressed the theme ‘Surveillance and monitoring informing biosecurity and feral pig management actions’.
as piglets from the wild. Due to very low sample numbers from domestic pigs, there is strong reli- ance on sampling of feral pigs to understand how far JEV has spread in the
to managing such bio- security risks.
Pleasingly, this attracted an audience of 96 people.
chickens spread across that state are also being tested for JEV.
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All of the presenta- tions made at the forum are available from the resources page on the NFPAP website – feral- pigs.com.au/stakeholder- forum/#ForumJune22
ongoing population moni- toring and control of feral pigs – to reduce potential biosecurity risks as well as the many other impacts they cause.
nical manager animal health Dr Skye Fruean discussed ‘Feral pigs: JEV, ASF and FMD – current response and surveillance in northern Australia to address bio- security risks’.
The Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy was established in 1989 to provide an early warning system for exotic pest, weed and disease detec- tions across northern Aus- tralia and to help address unique biosecurity risks and challenges facing the region.
The factsheet for FMD includes a link to a US resource that shows clin- ical signs of FMD in feral pigs.
by HEATHER CHANNON National Feral Pig Management Co-ordinator
Northern Territory. Sentinel cattle and
Factsheets on both JEV – feralpigs.com.au/wp- content/uploads/2022/06/ JEV-Factsheet-27- June-2022.pdf – and FMD – feralpigs.com.au/wp- content/uploads/2022/06/ FMD-17-June-2022.pdf – in relation to feral pigs are now available on the NFPAP website in the dis- eases section.
This is what is being advocated by the National Feral Pig Action Plan.
The confirmation of foot and mouth disease in May 2022 and its spread in Indonesia, the incursion of Japanese encephalitis virus in eastern Australia and ongoing threats of African swine fever em- phasise the importance of
Northern Territory Gov- ernment Biosecurity and Animal Welfare epidemi- ologist Dr Hayley Pearson and Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy tech-
The Australian Govern- ment health and agricul- ture departments have been working together to respond to the JEV out- break, first detected in mainland Australia in February 2022.
These include Austral- ia’s proximity in the north to countries that have pests and diseases not pre- sent in Australia and our sparsely populated huge coastlines.
These resources are regularly updated as new information is formally released.
Since this time, our knowledge of JEV has rapidly expanded.
The majority of staff in the NAQS animal tech- nical team are located in Broome, Cairns and Kath- erine and work closely with state jurisdictions.
The use of thermal im- aging to optimise feral pig management pro- grams were the focus of the presentations made by Primary Industries and Regions South Australia Kangaroo Island feral pig management coordinator Matthew Korcz and NSW Riverina Local Land Ser- vices senior biosecurity officer Suzanne Holbery.
An understanding of how it got to mainland Australia is still being sought, with wind-blown infected mosquitos or mi- grating birds being poten- tial mechanisms.
One of their key activi- ties is feral animal sur- veillance, which involves undertaking low altitude observations from a heli- copter along the northern coastline for different feral animal species, in- cluding feral pigs.
These two projects – conducted on Kangaroo Island in South Australia and Hay in the western Riverina in NSW – are demonstration sites for the NFPAP.
In the Northern Terri- tory, a total of 44 feral pigs have so far been de- tected with active JEV infection across five local government areas.
Post-mortems are con- ducted and samples are collected for exotic dis- ease surveillance.
To reiterate, the key ele- ments for successful feral pig control are:
A small number of feral pigs detected with JEV in western Cape York Pen- insula in Queensland has also been reported.
The role of feral pigs in the transmission of FMD was briefly covered.
• Apply a good plan and aim for 100 percent re- moval
Surveillance activi- ties for JEV have largely been conducted by NAQS across northern Australia, involving sampling of feral pigs.
It’s important to note that the potential of feral pigs to spread FMD in Australia will be de- pendent on factors in- cluding contact rates, hab- itat suitability, capacity of the virus to survive out- side the host for extended periods, the density and size of feral pig popula- tions, as well as climatic factors.
• Coordinate feral pig control over large areas by working together with others
As there is no commer- cial pork industry in the Northern Territory, the state government has also conducted JEV surveil- lance in domestic pigs in that state.
•Apply an integrated best-practice management approach to humanely remove as many pigs as possible
Owners are being iden- tified through the Prop- erty Identification Code database and people need to voluntarily allow sam- ples to be taken from their pigs.
However, feral pigs still pose potential risks that can’t be dismissed.
• Monitor before and after control efforts are undertaken, and act early. Hiding in plain sight
Many of these pigs may only be one or two genera- tions different from feral pigs, with some collected
With growing popula- tions in response to good seasonal conditions, sus- tained management ac- tions by both private and public land managers working together on a landscape-scale are key
Matt Korcz explained that the feral pig man- agement program on Kan- garoo Island is focussed on eradication.
• Utilise seasonal condi- tions – timing is critical
This project is funded by Commonwealth and South Australian Govern-