Page 4 - Australian Pork Newspaper

Controlling feral pig populations
Australasian Pig Science Association (Inc)
APSA 2021
18TH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE
Sofitel Brisbane, Australia
15th - 18th November 2021
Mark these dates in your calendar
15th - 18th November 2021
The Australasian Pig Science Association
is pleased to announce that the 2021 APSA Biennial Conference will be held at the
Sofitel Brisbane, QLD, Australia and online
Registrations Open
brisbane australia
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Day $455.00
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Visit the website for more details
www.apsa.asn.au
* from P2
brain and other vital or- gans.
including feral pigs, wild dogs, red foxes, cats and rabbits.
any potential non-target risks.
material a green or blue colour to minimise its at- tractiveness to birds and to distinguish it from human and animal feed, locking gates to paddocks, using products such as a Hogmat or a HogHopper and exclu- sion fencing.
An animal with exces- sive methaemoglobin be- come unconscious and dies within hours due to pain- less metabolic anoxaemia.
1080 is highly soluble, totally biodegradable and is an essential part of the toolkit available to land managers for feral pig con- trol.
Make sure you have a good look around to select some initial sites to pro- vide free feeding as baiting is most effective when bait is positioned near fresh and regular activity – that is, bring the bait to the pigs rather than hoping the pigs will find the bait.
Most animals have an en- zyme (methaemoglobin re- ductase) to protect against low level of methaemoglo- binaemia, but pigs have relatively less of this and are therefore particularly vulnerable to the effects of sodium nitrite in high doses.
A lethal dose of 1080 inhibits a critical enzyme in mitochondria that is needed to metabolise sugars into metabolic en- ergy.
1080 can only be used as bait for a maximum of three nights.
Further information and comprehensive usage in- structions for this product are available for down- loading from ACTA at animalcontrol.com.au/ products/hoggone.
When 1080 baiting, free feeding must be done for a minimum of three nights.
Wherever possible, steps should be taken to pick up poisoned carcasses and bury them under a min- imum of 500mm of soil.
Standard operating pro- cedures for Hoggone use are covered in the ACTA information and are cur- rently being prepared for availability via the Pest- Smart website.
These are strictly meta- bolic effects from blocking a critical enzyme and are not due to tissue damage or pain.
However, baiting is often more successful if free feeding is done for longer periods – 10-14 days – as it gives the pigs time to fa- miliarise themselves with the bait, and it provides time for more animals to find the bait station – field cameras can be used to monitor pigs coming in to free feed.
The dose concentrations of 1080 for feral pigs dif- fers between states and territories and are much higher than for wild dogs and foxes.
To comply with APVMA requirements, Hoggone bait must be placed in custom designed and pat- ented ACTA Hoggone bait boxes to limit access by non-target animals.
There are other shortfalls associated with the use of 1080 for controlling feral pigs – as opposed to other sensitive species such as dogs and foxes – including the high dose required, po- tential for non-target bait uptake, the occurrence of vomiting and the vari- ability in sensitivity be- tween feral pigs.
When free feeding, it’s important that there is ad- equate feed available per pig.
Consuming meat from poisoned pigs by native Australian animals has been determined to pose little potential risk to non- target species.
A side effect is a short- term build up of citrate and a resultant loss in available extracellular calcium ions which starves energy and calcium from cells, leading to unconsciousness and disruption of muscle coor- dination.
Whole clean grain such as wheat, barley, oats, lu- pins, sorghum and chick- peas, or even pellets – par- ticularly if weed seeds are of concern – can be used as free feed.
All unused bait must be collected and disposed of according to state or ter- ritory regulations and any vomit also removed.
These must be set up ac- cording to careful guide- lines, which includes a period of free feeding to bringferalpigsintothesite and to train them to open and feed from the bait box.
There is no antidote for poisoning with 1080.
If all free feed is being consumed, increase the amount available until feed consumed plateaus.
However, dogs, foxes and cats present in areas where feral pig baiting has been undertaken can be killed as they have a higher sen- sitivity to 1080 and can die if they consume vomit or feed on a poisoned carcass.
Placebo baits are rec- ommended for up to two nights prior to placement of toxic baits, depending on consumption levels of the placebo Hoggone by feral pigs.
It is a highly regulated and restricted chem- ical product, listed as a Schedule 7 dangerous poison.
Oversupply of grain will attract birds during the day and increase risks of non- target bait uptake. Applying 1080
Hoggone provides an ad- ditional feral pig baiting option for land managers rather being a total re- placement for 1080.
1080 must be used in accordance with relevant state, territory and Com- monwealth legislation.
Automatic deer feeders canalsobeusedtoprovide free feed.
Risks to humans from consuming meat from poisoned feral pigs are re- garded as low.
These procedures are very well described in ACTA’s Hoggone product brochure, accessible from the link above.
The handling and supply of 1080 powder or concen- trated solution and prepa- ration of baits can only be conducted by authorised trained persons under the laws of each state or terri- tory and is not available to the general public.
1080 is typically mixed with the same type of grain as free-feeding mate- rial, which is fed out once free feeding has been con- ducted.
The humaneness of con- trol methods for feral pigs were assessed by an inde- pendent expert panel and led to the development of a relative humaneness ma- trix by NSW DPI.
As the product contains peanuts and peanut oil, it must not be handled by people with peanut aller- gies.
In some regions, minor use permits allow the use of 1080 with fruit or meat baits.
The relative humaneness of sodium nitrite exceeds that of 1080.
Around 100-200g is sufficient to kill even the largest pig.
Each state and territory differs in terms of bait ac- cess, training required, bait types that can be used and legal requirement.
When applying 1080, a useful rule of thumb is to feed 60 percent of the final free-feeding level as feral pigs do not eat as much toxic bait as they do free- feed material.
1080 must be used by land managers in the most humane and effective ways and according to standard operating procedures available on the PestSmart website to minimise suf- fering of pigs.
While the amount of bait consumed by feral pigs could be greater than this, the effect of the bait is fast, so the amount consumed is often self-regulated.
Check locally or get in touch for contact details of who can best assist.
This is because 1080 is an acute toxicant and it starts to impact their feeding behaviour.
While baiting offers ad- vantages over other pig control tools, it is impor- tant to remember that ef- fective feral pig control requires an integrated ap- proach that combines the use of all tools in strategic order at a landscape scale.
1080 naturally occurs in around 30 species of Aus- tralian native plants.
So, if the group of feral pigs have been regularly consuming 100kg of free feed, bait with 60kg.
Animals often die within 200m away from the bait station, and usually within 1-3 hours after bait con- sumption.
Native herbivores and birds have acquired some evolutionary tolerance to 1080.
There are ways of mini- mising non-target impacts, such as removing livestock from paddocks, dyeing bait
There are low carcass residues in animals that succumb to Hoggone poi- soning.
Many scientific studies have shown that there is limited risk from 1080 to Australian native wildlife and especially not on a population basis – see the PestSmart website.
As a result, risks of tox- icity to scavenging animals on poisoned carcasses is very low to non-existent.
Free feeding
No burying of pig car- casses is required.
For any baiting activity, you need to ensure ade- quate free feeding to en- courage all pigs in the area to feed.
There are ways of minimising non-target impacts, including the HogHopper and Hogmat. www.porknews.com.au
Page 4 – Australian Pork Newspaper, November 2021
It is used extensively to protect wildlife, livestock and ecosystems from im- pacts by vertebrate pests
Very high levels of suc- cess and minimal non- target species impacts have been reported from its use in the field.
It also helps to identify
Hoggone bait must be placed in custom designed and patented ACTA Hoggone bait boxes.
ACTA provide technical support on the correct use of Hoggone to land man- agers to control feral pigs. 1080 sodium monofluor- oacetate
The baiting of feral pigs using 1080 is regarded by many vertebrate pest man- agement specialists as a cost-effective method for controlling feral pigs over large areas.