Feral pigs are accelerating the spread of a deadly plant disease in Queensland's Bunya Mountains, threatening ancient bunya pines that hold deep cultural significance for Indigenous Australians. The pigs, which are running wild in the region, dig up soil infected with Phytophthora, a water mould that causes dieback disease, cutting off trees' nutrient and water supply.
Adrian Bauwens, a Wakka Wakka man and forest health officer at the Bunya Peoples' Aboriginal Corporation, said the pigs use walking tracks and bike trails as highways, attracted by the large nut-filled pine cones. 'The major draw card for them is when the nuts are fruiting. They pretty much hit every tree they can,' he said.
The bunya pines, described as 'living fossils' dating back 145 million years to the Jurassic period, are culturally significant as they once hosted large Indigenous gatherings for ceremonies and dispute resolutions. However, dieback has thinned the canopy, letting sunlight into areas that were once densely shaded.
Reece Pianta, advocacy director at the Invasive Species Council, said the feral pig problem is now 'much higher than what has been experienced at any point before' due to three years of favourable weather. He warned that pigs are also damaging sea turtle nesting grounds and causing erosion in waterways.
Euan Ritchie, a professor of wildlife ecology at Deakin University, noted that pigs are widespread, adaptable, and breed rapidly, making control difficult. While saltwater crocodiles in the Northern Territory consume about six pigs per square kilometre of wetland annually, Ritchie said it is unclear if this meaningfully reduces pig numbers.
In far north Queensland, Djabugay Bulmba rangers have observed pig damage to platypus habitat. Alfred Hunter, a ranger, said pigs dig along riverbanks and creekbanks, posing a threat to the recently rediscovered platypus populations near Kuranda.
