Feral pig

What does it look like?

Feral pigs are distinctively shaped with large shoulders, small rear quarters, and a straight hairy tail. Often black in colour, they are also grey, brown, ginger, white, or any combination of these colours. Adults can weigh anything between 40 to 180 kg.

Feral pigs breed throughout the year. Each litter comprises 6-10 piglets but only 3-6 are likely to survive. Newborn piglets stay within or near the nest for first 2-3 weeks, wean at 2-4 months, and stay with the sow until the next litter is due.

Signs feral pigs are present

A common sign of feral pigs is their digging or ‘rooting’ of topsoil. Pigs dig up the ground with their snouts looking for roots, worms, and grubs. Pig rooting can cause extensive damage in a short space of time. You can estimate the age of this disturbance by inspecting the overturned turf. If the grass remains green and fresh, the activity likely occurred recently.

Other sign of pigs includes turned over cowpats, broken and rotten logs, and wallowing in wet areas with mud and scratch marks on the surrounding trees. Their droppings are relatively large oval pellets that are all joined together. Pig footprints have a round, cloven hoof, sometimes with a visible dewclaw.

Why is it a problem?

Pigs were first released in New Zealand in the 1770s as a food source. A wild population soon established from escaped and released domestic pigs. Control operations and recreational hunting continue today. Feral pigs continue to be illegally released for recreational hunting within the region, and are found in native and exotic forests, scrubland, and marginal farmland with areas of cover.

Feral pigs are omnivorous, opportunistic feeders with a wide-ranging diet. They will eat grasses, roots, herbs, seeds, insects and small animals, and will scavenge decomposing carcasses. They pose a serious threat to biodiversity by eating seedlings and root systems, native insects and ground nesting birds and their young. Feral pigs contribute to erosion through rooting, trampling, compaction and wallowing. Pigs often form large and distinctive game trails through areas of regenerating vegetation.

Feral pigs are a nuisance to agriculture because of their destructive feeding habits, often living in groups and overturning large areas of pasture in search of food. Pigs of a certain size will kill newborn lambs. Pigs are a known vector of bovine tuberculosis.

The Wild Animal Control (WAC) Act 1977 defines any pig that is living in a wild state and is not being herded or handled as a domestic animal or kept within an effective fence or enclosure for farming purposes, as a wild animal.

Control methods

• Hunting with trained pig hunting dogs, as well as stalking and shooting, are traditional methods of control and can be effective if undertaken correctly. However, these methods are only suitable in certain areas.
• Shooting can be restricted by the proximity of neighbours or the location where the pigs are living. Similar restrictions apply when hunting with dogs.

Live capture cage trap

The live capture cage trap catches feral pigs behind a swinging one-way door. It’s baited with fermented barley to attract the pigs into the trap. It must be placed in a location regularly visited by pigs, and pre-fed before the trap is set.

Setting the cage trap

• A flat, clear location is needed to set the trap. Vehicle access is necessary to transport the trap and fermented barley bait. The trap must be securely fastened to the ground by at least four waratah standards, which the trap is then wired to. The site must be flat to ensure that the swing door will close correctly.
• Once the trap is in place it should be pre-fed with barley, which can be bought from a farm supply store. Put the barley in a bin or bucket, mix with water, put a lid on it and leave in the sun. Add more water as it is soaked up by the barley. When the barley ferments it emits a strong smell, which is very attractive to pigs. Wire the door of the trap open and lay piles of barley around and in the back of the trap.
• If the trap is set immediately, it may discourage pigs from entering through the small gap. They need to be regularly entering and feeding from the trap before it is set. This can be a lengthy process, and although pigs are present in an area, they may be reluctant to enter the trap. It is important that all hunting with dogs and rifles cease while the trap is in use. Successful trapping requires regular visits from undisturbed pigs.
• Once the pigs are regularly entering the trap, it can be set by propping the swinging door open at 45 degrees with a short stick. When a pig pushes under the door, it will knock the stick out of the way and the door will close behind it. The pig in the trap cannot push its way out, but more pigs on the outside can push through the one-way door.
• A person who, for the purpose of capturing alive a mammal, bird, reptile, or amphibian, sets a trap or causes a trap to be set must inspect the trap, or cause a competent person to inspect that trap, within 12 hours after sunrise on each day the trap remains set, beginning on the day immediately after the day on which the trap is set.
• Any feral pigs caught in the trap must be destroyed by shooting with a head or vitals shot.
• It is an offence to capture and release feral pigs. All pigs captured must be destroyed.
• We can recommend suitable pig control contractors if required.

More information

Feral pigs are listed as a Site Led pest under the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Regional Pest Management Plan 2018-2038. We only control feral pigs at Priority Ecosystem sites.

A wild animal is the property of the crown, until the point where it is lawfully taken or killed, at which point it becomes the property of the person who has it in their possession (dead or alive).
If the animal is on private property, the above point still applies, but anyone hunting on the land must have the landowner/occupiers consent to do so. The landowner/occupier may only be deemed to have ownership of the animal if they have effectively contained it and identified it in accordance with a recognised identification system.

Pigs that do not meet the definition of a wild animal under the Wild Animal control Act 1977 can be controlled using actions under the Impounding Act 1955 (Part 5, Section 31: ‘Special remedies for trespass by pigs, goats and poultry’). Some key points are:

• The occupier of any land trespassed by pigs may recover trespass rates as prescribed by regulations under the Impounding Act.
• The occupier of any fenced land sown in grass or under cultivation may destroy any pigs found trespassing upon the land, but must send a written description of the animal destroyed and the location at which it was destroyed, within 24 hours, either to the owner if known, or the nearest police station. If the carcass is not claimed by the owner within 48 hours, the occupier must bury or otherwise dispose of the carcass.

If you believe someone is releasing pigs, you can report them to the Ministry for Primary Industries, where the Biosecurity (National Bovine Tuberculosis Pest Management Plan) Order 1998, Section 17A ‘Release of pigs into wild state’ is relevant, or the Department of Conservation, where it may be an offence under the Wild Animal Control Act 1977, Part 1, Section 11 ‘Restrictions on liberation of wild animals’.

Related links

• Game Animal Council Act 2013
• Impounding Act 1955 No 108 (as at 28 October 2021), Public Act Contents – New Zealand Legislation
• Invasive Species Compendium
• Wild Animal Control Act 1977 No 111 (as at 05 April 2025), Public Act Contents – New Zealand Legislation
• Pig Brig® Trap Systems
• Hawkes Bay Regional Council Pest Management Plan 2018 -38