A Pig of a Problem

Bribie Island is facing a persistent and complex environmental threat: feral pigs. These invasive animals not only destroy sensitive ecosystems, they pose a direct threat to wildlife and affect water quality in the island’s delicate wetland areas. While a control program is in place in the national park, responsibility for tackling the problem needs to be shared beyond the park boundary.

Feral pig activity has become a topic of community concern after news reports of illegal hunting in the Bribie Island National Park. (Photo by Darren Jew, May 2024)

Attacking a Growing Concern

Feral pig numbers on Bribie Island reached a concerning peak after a wetter than average year in 2022 created favourable breeding conditions. Interactions have become more common in the national park, and also at the interface between the park and residential areas.

Pigs began to be more regular, unwelcome visitors to national park campgrounds. Reports emerged of pigs entering camps, damaging tents and camping equipment, and even raiding eskies. Local rangers received approval and funding to ramp up their control program in order to take decisive action during 2024. Sections of the campgrounds were temporarily closed to carry out targeted control work, with dozens of pigs removed in preparation for the busy 2024/25 summer season, helping to reduce both safety risks for campers and environmental pressure in the area.

Over the past year, rangers have been working across the park to reduce the pig population, primarily using corral trapping. This method has successfully removed hundreds of pigs in the past 18 months.  Reports of pigs in the campground are down, and turtle volunteers have seen only a few signs of pig activity over the 2024/25 season– after having regular interactions with pigs on the beach previously. Outside the park in 2024, pigs were finding their way into backyards in the hamlet of White Patch. In late April 2025 two pigs were reported at Bongaree, in the bushland between residences and the sporting fields south of First Avenue.

The control program in the National Park has resulted in a significant reduction of pig sightings on Ocean Beach over the 2024/25 summer when compared to the previous year. (Photo by Darren Jew, Feb 2024)

As effective as it is, this program requires real commitment and cooperation from all park users, and landholders on and around the island. The challenge is made more difficult by the movement of pigs in and out of fragmented land tenures that create pine forest refuges inside the island’s protected wetlands.

On the mainland south of Caloundra, vast tracts of previously forested land have been cleared for housing between Pumicestone Passage and the Bruce Highway. This has seen feral pigs pushed out and in need of new homes—with Bribie Island’s National Park becoming a prime destination. Recruitment of pigs from the mainland remains a significant hurdle to reducing pig numbers on the island, as they are known to wade across the shallows of Pumicestone Passage around the area known as ‘the skids’ at low tide.

Feral pigs find their way to Bribie Island from the mainland at low tide, across the narrowest parts of Pumicestone Passage in an area known 'the skids' – located just south of Coochin Creek. (Photo by Darren Jew, May 2024)

It Takes a Village to Raze a Pig Problem What’s clear is that no single agency or stakeholder can solve the feral pig problem alone. With the Federal Government steering activity through a National Feral Pig Action Plan, state and local governments need to fund effective control on crown land; industrial forestry companies and property developers need to take responsibility for their land and the flow-on effects of their activities; and private landholders and farmers need to encourage the legal removal of pigs from their properties.

Feral pigs can avoid the National Park's control program by finding sanctuary in the island's commercial pine plantations. (Photo by Darren Jew, June 2024)

As part of our broader interest in invasive species, BIEPA's Environment Team is working to facilitate stronger collaboration between responsible stakeholders, with the goal of establishing a local feral pig plan for the greater Pumicestone Passage region, and coordinating actions to better understand the movement of pigs in the area. Landholder cooperation and commitments to reducing numbers on their land, is the only way to reduce pig pressure on Bribie Island. At the recent National Feral Pig Conference on the Gold Coast, BIEPA committee member Paul O’Donohue learned that the biggest obstacle to effective feral pig control in Australia is not the lack of methods—but the lack of cooperation.

“Without collaboration, even the best control programs will fall short.”

Conservation vs Chaos Recent events on Bribie Island have sparked community debate about the role of recreational hunting in controlling invasive species. In April 2025, two men were fined a total of $9,032 for actions relating to illegally hunting feral pigs within Bribie Island National Park. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) rangers and police began investigating after signs of suspicious movement of vehicles within the protected area on numerous occasions. Investigations revealed that the men accessed restricted roads, brought in pig-hunting dogs, and attempted to avoid detection by removing their number plates to evade surveillance cameras. 

Recent news of two men being fined for offences relating to illegal pig hunting in the Bribie Island National Park sparked considerable debate in local social media groups.

The discussion around this issue on social channels has revealed many community members are unaware of the significant impact and disruption illegal hunting has on the established pig control program on Bribie Island. Recreational hunting is widely acknowledged as an ineffective long-term control method–it removes only a tiny portion of the overall population, and causes pigs to scatter, become more wary of vehicles and humans, and in turn considerably harder to eradicate using the more effective measures already being employed.

In addition, important fire breaks in place along the north western flank of the national park have been severely damaged in wet weather by illegal hunters, and require machinery to repair which wastes valuable time and resources. Well-maintained firebreaks provide access to firefighters in event of emergencies and are critical in slowing the advance of wildfires through Bribie's fire-prone island landscape.

Speaking about the recent events, Police Acting Chief Superintendent Adam Guild from the Moreton District said illegal activity would be met with significant fines or charges:

“I acknowledge the good policing work that was done to identify and intercept the alleged offenders, despite their attempts to go undetected,” he said.

“We will continue to support QPWS and work with the rangers to assist in protecting our national parks and eliminating criminal behaviour within them.”

QPWS Manager Chris Skennar emphasised the detrimental impact of such illegal activities and that their actions risk undermining legitimate efforts to address the feral pig issue by disrupting the gains being made by the park’s established control program:

“Even if the intention is to target a pest species …  it doesn’t matter. National parks aren’t some remote uninhabited property, they’re a shared, protected space."

"We’re committed to enforcing the law and ensuring our parks are safe for both visitors and wildlife.”

Mr Skennar said: “We work closely with the Queensland Police Service to protect these areas and appreciate their support and the support of the community in reporting incidents like this. Your information helps to ensure our national parks are protected.”

You can read the full media release from the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation here.

Avoiding Invasives on our Plates There’s growing interest from some quarters across Australia to utilise invasive species as a source of wild game meat. Some propose the idea of harvesting feral pigs for human consumption as a means of managing their numbers, but the Invasive Species Council strongly cautions against this approach.

Creating a commercial wild game meat industry requires a consistent and reliable supply of animals, which in turn incentivises the maintenance of feral populations at “sustainable” levels. This runs counter to the core objective of invasive species control—eradication or significant population reduction—especially in sensitive environments like national parks.

Commercialising pest species risks undermining conservation goals, and may even lead to perverse outcomes where population control is deprioritised in favour of market continuity.

Get Involved in the Solution

Islands are critical refuges for threatened species and ecosystems. BIEPA believes that Bribie Island must lead by example. We encourage all residents, landholders, and stakeholders to come together in the fight against feral pigs—to share knowledge, coordinate control efforts, and advocate for well-managed, lawful solutions that protect our natural environment.

FeralScan is an online tool for reporting feral activity. Such reporting tools help managers understand pig populations in order to better control them.

If you encounter a pig close to residential areas please report it immediately to City of Moreton Bay Council.

If you are a landholder or concerned resident and want to be involved in future discussions or shaping the proposed area-wide program, please contact BIEPA’s Feral Pig Project Coordinator Paul O’Donohue by email at paul@biepa.online