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Ancient Rainforests Under siege: Feral Pigs and Disease Threaten Australia’s Bunya Pines
Australia’s iconic bunya pines,”living fossils” dating back 145 million years,are facing an escalating crisis as a deadly plant disease and a surging feral pig population combine to decimate ancient forests and disrupt culturally significant landscapes.
high up in an ancient conifer rainforest, at what was once teh largest Indigenous gathering place in eastern Australia, sunlight is now reaching the forest floor where it shouldn’t be. The eponymous pine trees of the Bunya Mountains in south-east Queensland are succumbing to a pathogen known as dieback, leaving them skeletal and dropping their leaves and limbs.
The culprit is Phytophthora, a water mould that attacks tree roots, cutting off vital nutrient and water supplies. However, the spread of this disease is being dramatically worsened by an unexpected agent: feral pigs. According to Adrian Bauwens, a wakka Wakka man who walks the forest regularly, pockets of sunlight now permeate what was “usually quite a dense canopy where it’s quite heavily shaded.”
These destructive invasive species are “running quite wild,” Bauwens says, “trotting around in dieback areas… spreading it through the mountain by digging it up.” Feral pigs utilize walking tracks and bike trails within the national park as “highways,” drawn by the promise of the bunya pine’s large, nut-filled cones. “The major draw card for them is when the nuts are fruiting,” bauwens explains. “They pretty much hit every tree they can.”
The bunya pine holds immense cultural importance for Indigenous Australians. For millennia, thousands traveled long distances to converge on the Bunya Mountains to celebrate the pines, wich served as a central meeting point. “It acted as a bit of a parliament house, where tribal disputes, marriages and ceremonies took place,” Bauwens notes. The potential loss of these trees represents a profound cultural blow.
A Growing Porcine Threat
Feral pigs, Sus scrofa, were introduced to Australia with the arrival of the First Fleet and have as spread across 45% of the country, with particularly high concentrations in the north-east. Estimates from 2020 placed the national population between 2.4 million and 4 million,though experts believe the actual number is now considerably higher. Their impact extends beyond the bunya pines, wreaking havoc on agricultural lands, native vegetation, and water sources.
“They’re a really significant environmental pest,” says Dr. Ben Ritchie, a researcher at the University of Queensland specializing in invasive species. “They cause a lot of damage to native ecosystems, and they’re also a vector for disease.” Ritchie points to the risk of pigs spreading diseases like leptospirosis and brucellosis, which can affect both livestock and humans.
In the northern reaches of Queensland, the problem is particularly acute. “The scale of the damage is just remarkable,” says Dr. Pia Pianta, a research scientist at James Cook University. “They’re ripping up rainforests, they’re destroying wetlands, they’re creating erosion gullies, and they’re leaving everything in shreds.”
Farther north, Trevor Meldrum, a Kuuku Yalangi man and environmental operations manager at Cape York Weeds and Feral Animals, describes the devastating impact on cultural heritage sites. “You’ve got our rock art painting sites that are being rubbed right through – the paint’s gone,” he says. “their excrement and the salts in their skin erode a lot of those sacred places.” He also notes the degradation of wetlands, which have shrunk dramatically in recent years due to pig activity. “The pigs,” Meldrum states, “are the main destroyers.”
The Path Forward
While complete eradication of feral pigs across large areas is considered “probably unrealistic,” according to Ritchie, a more strategic approach focusing on areas of particular concern is essential. Control methods include shooting, trapping, and targeted poisoning. While private hunting and carcass donation to crocodile farms can contribute to population control, bounty programs have proven ineffective in the United States.
“Effective feral pig control needs to be professional and humane and done at a landscape scale,” Pianta emphasizes. “We know that to achieve pig population reduction, you need to remove greater than 70% of their number each year.” A recent $2 million investment by the Queensland government to address the state’s feral pig problem is a positive step.
However,Meldrum stresses the urgent need for increased investment in the northernmost parts of the
