Cassowaries under threat from feral pigs
April 6, 2024 7:57 PM Subscribe
Australia has a feral pig problem and it is affecting the habitat of the cassowary (three minute video from BBC Earth.) There are only 2000 cassowaries left in Australia. There are 24 million feral pigs in Australia - for context, Australia only has 27.1 million people. Feral pigs compete with cassowaries for food. Feral pigs also eat cassowary eggs and cassowary chicks. Over 100 plant species depend on the cassowary to spread their seeds - if cassowaries disappear, it is disastrous for the rainforest and the other animals who rely on the rainforest.
What you folks need are assault rifles! (throwback to a previous post)
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:55 PM on April 6 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:55 PM on April 6 [2 favorites]
I don't know about assault rifles, Greg_Ace -- there are 120 guns for every 100 persons in the USA as it is.
There are 24 million feral pigs in Australia - for context, Australia only has 27.1 million people.
Man, betwixt the Scylla and Charbydis of feral cats and feral pigs, Australia is in a world of trouble. There are cat killing machines for the feral cats. Maybe Australia will have to get Ukrainian style killing drones for the feral pigs. Or perhaps a number of Whacking Days could be instituted.
posted by y2karl at 9:36 PM on April 6 [1 favorite]
There are 24 million feral pigs in Australia - for context, Australia only has 27.1 million people.
Man, betwixt the Scylla and Charbydis of feral cats and feral pigs, Australia is in a world of trouble. There are cat killing machines for the feral cats. Maybe Australia will have to get Ukrainian style killing drones for the feral pigs. Or perhaps a number of Whacking Days could be instituted.
posted by y2karl at 9:36 PM on April 6 [1 favorite]
There are 24 million feral pigs in Australia
That is wild. I knew about the feral cats and rabbits issues, but didn't know that feral pigs were also such an issue there. That seems like a major eradication program would be needed to even put a dent in the population. Does Australia have the same problem as the US, where people deliberately capture and release feral pigs in new areas to develop better hunting opportunities?
Because you can't fix stupid, and we have a lot of that.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:45 PM on April 6 [1 favorite]
That is wild. I knew about the feral cats and rabbits issues, but didn't know that feral pigs were also such an issue there. That seems like a major eradication program would be needed to even put a dent in the population. Does Australia have the same problem as the US, where people deliberately capture and release feral pigs in new areas to develop better hunting opportunities?
Because you can't fix stupid, and we have a lot of that.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:45 PM on April 6 [1 favorite]
Does Australia have the same problem as the US, where people deliberately capture and release feral pigs in new areas to develop better hunting opportunities?
I don't know if people deliberately capture and release feral pigs in new areas to develop better hunting opportunities - there are enough feral pigs that it really isn't neccessary, plus the feral pigs that we call "razorbacks" are really nasty and can really hurt an adult human or a dog -
but people certainly deliberately capture and release feral DEER in new areas to develop better hunting opportunities - feral deer have turned up in areas where the only explanation for how they got a long distance from point A to point B (when the two points are in different states, and there are no feral deer BETWEEN point A and point B) is that someone deliberately captured and released feral deer in new areas to develop better hunting opportunities.
Authorities have repeatedly pleaded with people not to transport feral deer across state lines, and have threatened tougher legal penalties for doing so.
(Feral deer, while certainly a genuine conservation problem - Australia has zero native deer, the "deer" ecological niche in Australia is filled by kangaroos and wallabies and wombats - are by no means our biggest problem. If conservationists had a magic wand and could eradicate only three feral species from Australia, it would almost certainly be
1. Feral cats
2. Feral foxes
3. Feral pigs
in that order.)
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 10:58 PM on April 6 [4 favorites]
I don't know if people deliberately capture and release feral pigs in new areas to develop better hunting opportunities - there are enough feral pigs that it really isn't neccessary, plus the feral pigs that we call "razorbacks" are really nasty and can really hurt an adult human or a dog -
but people certainly deliberately capture and release feral DEER in new areas to develop better hunting opportunities - feral deer have turned up in areas where the only explanation for how they got a long distance from point A to point B (when the two points are in different states, and there are no feral deer BETWEEN point A and point B) is that someone deliberately captured and released feral deer in new areas to develop better hunting opportunities.
Authorities have repeatedly pleaded with people not to transport feral deer across state lines, and have threatened tougher legal penalties for doing so.
(Feral deer, while certainly a genuine conservation problem - Australia has zero native deer, the "deer" ecological niche in Australia is filled by kangaroos and wallabies and wombats - are by no means our biggest problem. If conservationists had a magic wand and could eradicate only three feral species from Australia, it would almost certainly be
1. Feral cats
2. Feral foxes
3. Feral pigs
in that order.)
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 10:58 PM on April 6 [4 favorites]
This is what happens when Emu funding gets cut
posted by Jarcat at 11:30 PM on April 6 [1 favorite]
posted by Jarcat at 11:30 PM on April 6 [1 favorite]
Not long ago MeFi told me that these are some mean deadly birds. But I suppose a swarm of 12000 pigs is too much even for these majestic killing machines.
posted by donio at 12:26 AM on April 7
posted by donio at 12:26 AM on April 7
Perhaps we could trap them and use them to pull our chariots so the cassowaries can have a rest?
posted by But tomorrow is another day... at 1:48 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
posted by But tomorrow is another day... at 1:48 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
Why--I asked myself--not just pay lots of people to go hunt for the feral pigs? Then I decided to look it up, since where I'm from, there's a feral pig problem (although not 24-million-pig bad--but bad enough that growing up I wasn't allowed to play in the woods at my aunt's because the pigs would attack you): "Bounties are not likely to decrease the feral swine population and could potentially actually increase populations. For example, bounties may encourage some trappers to release females and young animals to leave enough “seed” for future trapping. Likewise, bounties may contribute to the spread of the pig population if trappers illegally move pigs to new areas."
posted by mittens at 4:36 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
posted by mittens at 4:36 AM on April 7 [1 favorite]
Why--I asked myself--not just pay lots of people to go hunt for the feral pigs? Then I decided to look it up, since where I'm from, there's a feral pig problem (although not 24-million-pig bad--but bad enough that growing up I wasn't allowed to play in the woods at my aunt's because the pigs would attack you): "Bounties are not likely to decrease the feral swine population and could potentially actually increase populations. For example, bounties may encourage some trappers to release females and young animals to leave enough “seed” for future trapping. Likewise, bounties may contribute to the spread of the pig population if trappers illegally move pigs to new areas."
With the anti-invasives campaigns, there's an underlying wish to recreate the dynamic of mass killing that led to the extinction of the passenger pigeon. But that was only possible because there was a market for the birds and they were easy to kill on an industrial scale. There's no (or very little) market for feral pigs, and they are hard to kill.
There was a point in the US where deer populations were hunted to very low numbers, but then state and federal wildlife agencies imposed restrictions and management to bring the numbers back up. Now, each year fewer people go hunting, so deer populations are exploding. The population dynamics with species that we like to hunt are complicated, even for "desirable" native species.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:45 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
With the anti-invasives campaigns, there's an underlying wish to recreate the dynamic of mass killing that led to the extinction of the passenger pigeon. But that was only possible because there was a market for the birds and they were easy to kill on an industrial scale. There's no (or very little) market for feral pigs, and they are hard to kill.
There was a point in the US where deer populations were hunted to very low numbers, but then state and federal wildlife agencies imposed restrictions and management to bring the numbers back up. Now, each year fewer people go hunting, so deer populations are exploding. The population dynamics with species that we like to hunt are complicated, even for "desirable" native species.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:45 AM on April 7 [2 favorites]
For example, bounties may encourage some trappers to release females and young animals to leave enough “seed” for future trapping.
If the bounty is high enough, you'll find people raising them in farms.
posted by mikelieman at 8:03 AM on April 7
If the bounty is high enough, you'll find people raising them in farms.
posted by mikelieman at 8:03 AM on April 7
If the bounty is high enough, you'll find people raising them in farms.
Thereby creating another linkage in the cycle of our relationship with pigs: wild → domesticated → feral → re-domesticated → ???
posted by Dip Flash at 8:30 AM on April 7
Thereby creating another linkage in the cycle of our relationship with pigs: wild → domesticated → feral → re-domesticated → ???
posted by Dip Flash at 8:30 AM on April 7
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