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Joint Rainforest CRC & CRC Reef Media ReleaseNew Research shows "Eric" - your average feral pig is misunderstood22 November 2005 Eric is your average run of the mill feral pig, he’s much maligned and considered the scourge of the wet tropics, but more than a decade of research into the likes of Eric reveals many misconceptions. At the “Rainforest meets Reef” conference in Townsville today, Rainforest CRC researcher Dr Jim Mitchell will present the results of 12 years of research on the ecology of feral pigs within the wet tropics rainforests, including reproductive patterns, diet, movements, life history, social structure, their impact on rainforest biodiversity and ecology, economic impact on industries and control techniques. Dr Mitchell will use a fictitious feral pig called Eric to summarise his research. Eric and his pals cost individual north Queensland banana and cane farmers up to Research shows there are not the millions of pigs roaming the wet tropics that landholders claim, and that the population is somewhere between 20 000-30 000 animals. Tracking studies demonstrate that Eric does not migrate from the lowlands up into the highlands or vice versa with the change in season contrary to common belief. Eric stays put, wreaking havoc in small swampy areas that are also home to many endangered and threatened species like frogs. While Dr Mitchell said that Eric doesn’t pose a major threat to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area overall, he does have a major impact on highly environmentally significant areas like creek lines and swamps. The possibility of him introducing exotic diseases like foot and mouth into the rainforest is also of major concern. “We would have no way of controlling outbreak of foot and mouth in the rainforest,” he said. Dr Mitchell has found trapping to be the most effective way of controlling the likes of Eric, with one community based program tallying 14 000 animals over seven years. The research has been vital for the management authorities who now know the movement and digging patterns of feral pigs, have a measure of their environmental and economic impacts, and new innovative control techniques. Dr Jim Mitchell will present “The saga of Eric the feral pig” at 11:15am 22 November at the Rainforest meets Reef conference hosted by the Rainforest and Reef CRCs at the Southbank Convention Centre, South Townsville. Media Contact:
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