Illegal Pig-Doggers On Notice

A WARNING has been issued to illegal pig doggers to ‘watch this space’ as local police and the game licensing unit of the department of primary industries continue to address illegal hunting in the local area.

The new focus on illegal pig hunting follows an operation in April with illegal hunters to be issued with court attendance notices and hunting equipment was seized, including a vehicle, which has been forfeited to the crown until the court has made a ruling.

Andrew Moriarty, manager of the game licensing unit of the NSW department of primary industry said they have teamed up with police to first educate illegal hunters about the impact they are having on landholders.

“We have been doing some profiling on this group of hunters and some interesting things came out and one of the biggest things is they genuinely think they are helping the farmers and they have no idea the impact their hunting is having on rural families,” said Mr Moriarty.

“We’ve heard some horrific stories about wives and children terrified because there are illegal pig hunters driving around on their property while their husband is away harvesting and when you spell out those situations to them, they have clearly never understood what they are doing,” he said.

“It was a revelation to them that the farmers often already had pig control measures, but the overriding message from landholders is that you are scaring them and they are not happy with it, they feel scared in their homes.

“We are also educating them that there are 180 state forests where they can legally go shooting in New South Wales, so they can’t use that excuse anymore that they have nowhere to go.

“They need a restricted game hunting licence with us, it’s $75 a year which is not a massive charge when you look at the costs of hunting,” he said.

“There are a lot of reputable guys who do the right thing and have permission and they are the guys we want and they don’t want the illegal guys giving them a bad name,” Andrew Moriarty said.

Inspector Guy Guiana from Hunter Local Area Command said the illegal hunters are a mix of people.

“There are people we find who have come up from Sydney and feel it is their right to go onto properties to hunt, but there are also a lot of local people who are doing the same thing,” said Inspector Guiana.

“We’ve also had local people reporting their fences being cut to make it easier for people to trespass and collect firewood,” he said.

“People shouldn’t need to put signs up everywhere saying it is private property, if the area is fenced off don’t go on the land,” said Guy Guiana.

There is also an education campaign for landholders ‘shut the gate on illegal hunting’, teaching farmers how to set up trail cameras, liaise with police and help clamp down on illegal hunting.

Hunt Safe, Hunt Legal packs are being distributed through Local Land Services and Department of Primary industry offices, all police stations and the Australian Pig Doggers and Hunter Association are also distributing them to their nearly 4,000 members.

For more information visit the department of primary industry website: Be a Responsible Pig Dogger.

Related Stories:

• Poachers Caught Red Handed – April 29, 2016.
• Illegal Hunting Addressed Tonight – May 26, 2016.
• Farmers Bring Hunters to Heel – May 27, 2016.