General News
12 December, 2025
Feral pigs target of club
THE founder of a newly-formed feral pig hunting club says it aims to take a more coordinated approach to the massive problem controlling the invasive animals and the tens of millions of dollars in damage done to farms and crops.
According to recent research, each local sugar cane farm loses on average more than $10,000 per year to feral pig damage and control.
The final touches are being put to the Cassowary Coast Hunters Club for its launch meeting this Friday night, including ethics, rules and standards.
Founder and president Paige Richards says the main purpose of the club’s formation is to bring hunters, landholders and families who love the outdoors together to protect the land, support farmers and promote ethical, responsible pig hunting.
“I believe it’ll be more of a success actually getting on top of the numbers (of feral pigs) because everyone’s working as a team,” Ms Richards told The Observer.
“It kind of encourages everybody to hunt a little bit more and do better and learn more and catch more pigs,” she said.
The club plans to work closely with landowners, who Ms Richards says can better identify problem spots on their farms.
“If we’ve got landholders in and they’re calling out for help from hunters, we can help them,” she said.
The new hunters club will be “a structured, ethical, community-led hunting organisation that supports our farmers, protects our land and brings our hunting community together in a positive way,” Ms Richards said.
“For years, feral pigs have caused millions of dollars in damage to cane farms, banana farms, cattle properties, waterways and rainforest ecosystems across our region,” she said.
“They spread disease, destroy crops overnight, impact livestock and create major safety risks on our roads and while hunters have always played an important role here, we’ve never had a central, organised body to unite us, support landholders properly and set strong ethical and safety standards.”
The club’s first meeting is scheduled to take place at the Silkwood Hotel on Friday 12 December at 5pm, where members, volunteers and committee members will be able to sign up.
Anyone interested can also visit the Cassowary Coast Hunters Club’s newly published public Facebook page.
Read about the council’s pig campaign at www.bit.ly/3KF28O2
