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Introduction
The Natural Heritage Working Group of the Australian Alps Cooperative Management Program has implemented a series of best practice workshops for agency staff involved in the management of invasive species in the Alps. The aim of these workshops is to review or communicate on the progress of recent research, share information on management programs and techniques, discuss management issues and strategies, and identify future research requirements. The first of these workshops was on feral horses.
Land managers within the Australian Alps program consider that damage caused by feral pigs is a threat to the environmental and social values in all 11 Australian Alps national parks. Feral Pigs are listed in the report Treasures of the Alps as being of the highest priority for threat abatement across all jurisdictions in the Alps. However, the control methods used, and priority assigned to feral pig control varies considerably across jurisdictions.
The workshop on feral pigs is timely as it is likely that the ACT and NSW will progressively move towards more socially acceptable humane control methods. The most commonly used feral pig toxin in the ACT and parts of the NSW Alps parks (warfarin) has recently been identified as not meeting best practice requirements for humane control. There is no guarantee that permits obtained to use warfarin will continue to be issued by the regulating authority.