Feral Thoughts

Feral pigs a major concern to domestic pig producers

Pork producers in Australia face a tough task just to survive in the business.  It's a competitive environment with low pork prices and high feed costs characterizing the industry.  

The presence of feral pigs that might transmit an exotic disease in the event of an outbreak can be yet another stress in the management of a piggery. Recently I gave a talk to some Queensland pork producers who were concerned about the possible involvement of feral pigs in outbreaks of pneumonia, which can cost a piggery a tonne of money.  Following outbreaks of pneumonia in several commercial piggeries in the State, local feral pigs were found to be carrying the disease as well.  This doesn't mean the disease came from the feral pigs, mind you: it's possible they got it from the commercial pigs.  But it can't be a good thing.

Wool: wearing your own, comfortable, carbon sink and keeping important bits cool

You learn something new everyday.

Yesterday I learned that wearing wool is like carrying your own little carbon sink around. I gave a presentation on the impacts of rabbits and wild dogs on wool production at a meeting of fine wool producers at Yass, about an hour from Canberra. I also got to hear about the latest in wool fashion and marketing.

I knew that the range of wool clothing products had changed over the past decade or so and that next-to-skin wool clothing is now exceptionally comfortable. The materials passed around the room had a terrific feel to them. But when Australian Wool Innovation's Chief Executive Brenda MaGahan spoke, she taught me a few new things. Wool is composed of grass, sunshine and water so it is 42% carbon. When you think that the sheep has worn it for a few years and then you might wear it for a decade, that's not a bad place to store a bit of carbon. Driving home to the solar-paneled house in the hybrid, I resolved to wear more wool and carry more carbon on me.

Australian version of "Deer Wars" developing

At least two books have been written entitled "Deer Wars".  Over 25 years ago the highly respected population ecologist Graeme Caughley wrote "Deer Wars: the history of deer in New Zealand" and more recently American Robert Frye has written of the conflict in "Deer Wars: Science, Tradition and the Battle over managing Whitetails in Pennsylvania".

Someone in Australia may have to write an account of deer conflict in this country. Deer are rapidly becoming one of the more controversial invasive species. At almost every talk I've given recently, someone brings up the topic during question time, whether I've covered deer in the presentation or not.

The most iconic example of the dysfunctionality of bringing six colonies together to form Australia is the railway gauge. Developed separately, Australia's railway network famously consisted of three different gauges: New South Wales adopted the European standard gauge of 1435 mm, Victoria and South Australia built with the broad Irish gauge of 1600 mm, and Tasmania, Queensland, Western Australia and parts of South Australia used the narrow 1067 mm gauge. Apparently early in the century if you traveled from Perth to Brisbane you needed to change trains six times.

Deer are the equivalent of the railway system in terms of wildlife management in Australia. Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia regard deer as "pests" whereas New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania regard them as "game". It's more complex than that: "game" management varies considerably between the three resource-management States, and "deer" refers to six species (Sambar, Red, Fallow, Chital, Rusa and Hog) whose management can also vary considerably.

Environment aside, breeding Savannah cats is a cruel practice

The recent airing of the BBC Documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed in Australia was an insight into the blinkered thinking of those breeding dogs for shows. Never mind the functionality of an animal, but focus entirely on the look, a look based on a mythological view of the breed. German Shepherds barely able to walk because of the need to match the animal's genetics to a breed standard stipulating a sloping back. King Charles Cavalier's with brains too big for their skulls (the opposite problem to their breeders). Hopefully the documentary and the public reaction to it has cracked a tiny ray of light into Kennel Clubs. 

In the past few days, the English Press has looked again at some of the issues with the Savannah cat (here and here), a breed sensibly banned from import into Australia last year. Its ban from Australia was on environmental grounds. However, there is an animal welfare issue with the breed that reminds me of the tunnel vision of many show-animal breeders: first-cross Savannah cats are pretty well all born prematurely.

Bringing in the bounty hunters - can it work?

Bounties are one of the most talked about but least understood issues associated with pest animal management. They are simple in concept: pay people for dispatch of a particular animal and thus put an economic incentive on reducing numbers. So why are bounties such a polarizing issue?

Don Thomas of Queensland, a sheep grower under attack from wild dogs, raised the issue again in the previous post on Feral Thoughts. Don blames those responsible for canceling the old dingo scalp bounty for the current spate of dog attacks.

Don's reaction is a common one, and it doesn't have to be just in relation to dogs. Calls for bounties are common for foxes, particularly in Tasmania at the moment where people see a financial incentive to get hunters out there and after a small number of foxes as an efficient way to manage the current incursion. A couple of years ago, it was reported that Australia's largest private hotel owner, Tom Hedley, was offering a beer-for-a-bag-of-toads bounty to reduce cane toad numbers (I don't think this went beyond a flurry of publicity).

A story from the front: the war on wild dogs

Don and Meg Thomas earn their living from the land in the Wallangarra area of Southern Queensland. Unfortunately for Don and Meg they are one of the many landholders that are under siege from wild dog attacks on their livestock. Don recently wrote to the Chairman of our National Wild Dog Advisory Group, Brent Findlay, and he tells the story much better than I can:

We have poisoned a few dogs over the last 2 or 3 years after they have been in killing sheep. They usually get in because of a fault in the electric fence or the power is down for some reason. Our usual procedure is to pull the sheep back behind a hinge-joint fence & then after about a week when the dogs are getting hungry, we put out baits & have had instant success. I have found a few of the dogs after they have been poisoned but that is unusual. 

Animal Liberation: Better to die of dehydration than a bullet

Director of Animal Liberation Australia, Mark Pearson, has told Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio program The Current that a camel is better off to die from dehydration than a bullet. To be exact, Mr Pearson said “there is veterinary science to say that at a certain point of dehydration, suffering is not as… does cease and really just a process of death.”

In arguing that camels should not be culled in Australia's Outback, Mr Pearson used a variety of arguments including that it won't work, past mismanagement and that fencing or fertility control were better alternatives. He advocated that the bulk of the Government's investment in camel management should be directed to fertility control research. As a fertility control research organisation, our Cooperative Research Centre would obviously be delighted with an injection of funds but the reality is that the state of technology worldwide is not there yet and the urgency of the camel situation means they cannot continue to be ignored.