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Problem porcines pig out at their peril
20 Jul 2004
The pig's reputation for pigging out will soon become its undoing, as scientists in Canberra are developing a perfect bait for feral pigs. The Pest Animal Control Co-operatives Research Centre says that within 18 months they will have created a bait that is harmless to native animals but poisonous to the pigs.
The bait plays on the pigs' indiscriminate appetite and is a grain-based product with a meat attractant. It will have an odour pleasing to the average pig - a bit like a large hunk of fish, the project manager said.
Herbivores will be put off by the smell of flesh and carnivores by the smell of grain but the generalist pig, which eats almost anything, will hoe in.
The bait will assist in reducing a significant agricultural problem: PAC CRC figures show that feral pigs inflict $107 million of production and control losses each year.
The Courier-Mail, 20/7/04.
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