Feral pigs are rooting up pasture on the Chatham Islands. Photo: Supplied / Lois Croon
The Chatham Islands is grappling with an 'out of control' feral pig population that residents say is causing widespread damage.
Pig hunting is a popular past-time there, attracting tourists and providing kai.
But the pig population has exploded and it's taking a toll on the islands already under pressure from shipping delays and feral cattle.
Alfred Preece owns a large property at Owenga with lots of native bush, shrub and grasslands.
They killed close to 200 feral pigs on their property last year, when culling 10-20 would get on top of them in the past, he said.
"They've just got out of control. There's always been pig populations there. There's always been keen pig hunters to keep them in check, but certainly in the last three years they've just gone to another level."
Feral pigs have been tearing up the native bush and the pasture he needed to feed stock.
Unreliable shipping has meant his stock have been stuck on the island for months longer than expected.
"They can take out hectares a night, just leave a terrible mess," Preece said.
"Along with not having a shipping service that's performing, we're having to carry a lot of extra stock so we've been overstocked anyway for the last three winters and that's just added to the pain."
Chatham Islands Conservation Board chair Dr Peter de Lange said hunters used to keep feral pigs mostly in check, but that changed during the pandemic.
"What we're seeing out there now are herds of a hundred plus running through the forests, paddocks and even down roadsides," de Lange said.
They would eat everything and cause a tremendous amount of damage while they were at it, he said.
"They're ploughing up the peat, the soil, causing erosion on a phenomenal scale, causing death of forest, regenerating shrubland, drying out pasture, increasing runoff into the waterways," he said.
de Lange acknowledged that controlling the pig population was polarising - hunters feared the loss of tradition if there were too few, while the damage caused by too many pigs caused widespread concern.
The issue has been made more uncertain with the impending replacement of the conservation board and the Department of Conservation's jobs cuts on the island.
But the board was still working with community groups and making pig traps available, he said.
"I don't think we'll ever get rid of pigs. But I think that we can reduce the pig numbers to levels that are acceptable so that people can still hunt them, but the amount of damage is less," de Lange said.
"The best way I think we can do that is by having a decent hui and then going out and showcasing what the actual problems are and what their children's children stand to lose if you don't do anything about the pigs now."
Hokotehi Moriori Trust has a biosecurity team targeting pigs in their reserves with trapping and hunting.
Interim chief executive Levi Lanauze said it was quite expensive to get on top of them.
He grew up pig hunting but said younger generations did not seem as keen to get involved.
"We're now at a point that even the recreational pig hunters we have can't keep up," Lanauze said.
"We are a vast island with a small population so you think you might be giving one area a bit of a hiding, but there's other areas that may not have been for even years."
He has noticed the mindset of the island towards feral pigs had changed.
"You just about talk to anyone in the community, whether they're a farmer, a fisherman or an office worker, they will all have the same view about the pigs."
Chatham Islands mayor Monique Croon agreed that community collaboration was the key to getting the pigs under control, especially as resources remained tight.
The popular annual pig hunt is back in October - with changes including putting sows in their sights.
"We're now trying to move towards not having just the biggest pig, but moving towards some eradication like having caught the most pigs," Croon said.
The Ministry of Primary Industries has been also working with farmers to help control feral animals, including pigs.
The Department of Conservation has confirmed it has not been undertaking any pig control.