Police in regional New South Wales have called for the use of dogs to hunt wild pigs to be made illegal.
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In a letter tabled to budget estimates this week, the Oxley Rural Crime Unit asked the state government to consider changing the legislation to specifically prohibit “the use of hunting dogs to hunt animals … in particular feral pigs”.
The letter states some hunting dogs are exposed to significant injuries, “rarely” receive professional veterinary treatment and that the practice has “little to no impact of feral pig numbers as compared to aerial culls”.
The letter goes on to state that hunting dogs can also scatter pig populations into neighbouring properties and that the pests pose risks to biosecurity and human health.
The correspondence states police allocate “significant” resources and funding to prevent illegal trespassing from a “minority” of pig hunters that have been causing “anxiety, fear, anguish and anger” to rural landholders for decades.
The police acknowledge in the letter that the ‘”divisive” activity is enjoyed by many law-abiding hunters, but the adverse impacts warrant a “fresh approach to the issue”.
“Police request that consideration be given to legislative change, prohibiting the use of hunting dogs to hunt animals and in particular feral pigs,” the letter said.
“It is requested that consideration be given to mandate those hunting activities as criminal offences, in a similar way bull fighting and other animal fighting activities are prohibited.”
Hunters call for regulation
The Australian Pig Doggers and Hunters Association said the letter was “confusing”.
National president Ned Makim said the association was also fed up with illegal hunters, but the solution was not an outright ban.
“What we’ve suggested is regulation of pig hunting with dogs with a licensing system,” he said.
“At the moment the police have difficulty identifying who’s legal and who’s illegal.”
Mr Makim rejected several claims in the letter, including that dogs disperse pigs into neighbouring properties and that the practice has little to no effect on wild pig numbers.
“There’s no evidence of that anywhere — that’s just a furphy,” he said.
Mr Makim said the letter appeared to be a knee-jerk reaction to the police who were “not getting the job done”.
“I’m not blaming them — it’s a hard job,” he said.
“You’ve got cops trying to cover areas the size of a country.”
The association said legal pig hunters were a massive economic driver in the regions and that an effective pest control method that should not be prohibited because of the “abhorrent” practice of illegal hunters trespassing on properties.
‘Legally dubious’
The letter was tabled to in budget estimates on Wednesday by the Animal Justice Party’s Emma Hurst.
She said the practice of pig hunting was already “legally dubious” and called for legislation to outlaw the dogs.
“It’s already illegal to unnecessarily cause pain and suffering to an animal under the act, but this has never really been trialled in a court case in regards to pig-dogging,” she said.
The NSW government has already committed to reviewing the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 and updating the legislation to include bans on puppy farms and creating an independent office of animal welfare.
Ms Hurst said the review should include specific clauses to make hunting pigs with dogs illegal, which she said was cruel to both animals.
“It is absolutely horrific these animals, these pigs, are absolutely screaming for their lives,” she said.
“It is such an extremely inhumane action — it can’t be justified in any sense of the word.”
Editor’s note 23/2/2024: This article has been amended to clarify the Oxley Rural Crime Unit sent the letter to the NSW government.
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