Feral pigs decimating cassowary numbers in world heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest, filmmaker says
A filmmaker says feral pig numbers in the world-heritage listed Daintree Rainforest in far north Queensland are out of control.
University of New South Wales doctoral student Dan Hunter has spent the past nine months filming cassowaries in the Cooper Creek area, north of Cairns, in what is thought to be the world's oldest surviving rainforest.
Cassowaries are listed as endangered, with as few as 2,500 believed to remain in the wild, and Mr Hunter said he can see why.
"The feral pig problem is out of control in national parks," Mr Hunter said."They are eating the eggs and chicks as they compete for food.
"The pig-hunting dogs that get lost in the national park are a big problem too, they go after them [the cassowaries]."
Mr Hunter said he battled leaches and mosquitoes in his 'hide' — a canvas tent — to capture the big and potentially deadly birds for the film Dino Birds, to be screened on National Geographic.
He said getting up close and personal with the birds, which can reach two metres high and weigh 80 kilograms, was an "incredible" experience.
"This one particular day they walked under a tree that was fruiting," he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-30/pigs-decimating-cassowaries-in-world-herit... Turtles are also endangered due to feral pigs in Qld we can thank John Howard for this.