Dr Heather Channon has been appointed as Australia’s first national feral pig management coordinator to tackle Australia’s feral pig population and reduce the risk feral pigs pose to the spread of diseases including African Swine Fever (ASF) if the disease ever occurred in Australia.
Heather has worked for Australian Pork Limited (APL) since 2005 in various roles within the Research and Innovation Division and recently completed her PhD at The University of Melbourne with her PhD program focused on developing an eating quality system for the Australian pork industry. Prior to this, Heather was a Research Scientist (Meat Science) with the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, Werribee from 1995-2005. In this role, Heather conducted many research projects to understand the impact of processing and post-slaughter factors on pork quality
Minister for Agriculture, David Littleproud, said feral pigs are a major pest to Australia’s $60 billion agriculture industry and cause serious damage to the natural environment. “There is an estimated 24 million feral pigs in Australia, costing the national agricultural sector about $14.5 million a year.” Minister Littleproud said. A roundtable will be held in Canberra in late March 2020 to bring together industry, governments, researchers and other stakeholder to deliver a national approach to feral pig management.
“Feral pigs can spread disease and are a huge issue for farmers, with significant time and money invested to control them. This role will coordinate reliable methods and work collaboratively on the ground with landholders, the states and territories to manage feral pig numbers. ASF has been confirmed in Indonesia and was found right on our doorstep in Timor-Leste in September 2019. If ASF was to enter Australia, it could severely damage our pig meat and associated industries and have devastating consequences for the pork industry. I commend industry for their efforts in advocating for a nationally coordinated approach to feral pig management,” he said.
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