Round one funding from the South West Catchments Council’s (SWCC) Groundworks South West program, supported by the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country initiative funding will employ experienced pig trappers, build traps and buy baits over the next 12 months.

Feral pig control projects are being funded, including those proposed by the Nannup Feral Pig Action Group and the Warren Catchments Council.

Groups will also work closely with SWCC project officers to provide information, which will be an important consideration for future funding decisions.

South West Catchments Council Biodiversity project officer, Lorraine Duffy said the pigs were a biodiversity disaster.

“They uproot and damage habitat, feed on native vegetation, invertebrates, amphibians, birds’ eggs and small mammals.

“They also introduce and spread diseases such as dieback, water borne diseases and pathogens,” she said.

This impacts upon a number of threatened species including the white and orange-belliedfrog, woylie, quokka, burrowing crayfish, Balston’s pygmy perch and rare plants including reedia, spider orchid species and a pea, Daviesia elongata subsp elongate, which is a highly susceptible to dieback.

“To support the survival of these species, we need to get the feral pig populations under control,” Ms Duffy said.

The feral pig control projects funded under the recent Groundworks allocations will tie in with several other SWCC control programs already underway in the South West.

For feral pig programs to be successful it is important to eradicate most feral pig populations in a region.

The Nannup community is asked to lend a hand by notifying the Nannup Feral Pig Action Group of recent pig sightings on 9756 1277.