Thread: Otago University needs Feral Pig DNA Samples

Cats are a prob everywhere, the only thing I think Gareth Morgan has right! I've send a few Wekas around here and down Ohiwa, Whakatane way this summer, just while driving country roads.

I didn't know they'd released them in the Bay of Plenty. Weka are really good at dealing to baby rodents. Don't know if they'd go after young stoats though. I know they'll also go after eggs, ducklings and chicks, like Pukeko do, so all our baby poultry live in small gauge wire netting cages/rabbit hutches until they're big enough to fight back.

Dumped cats have always been a problem. When I was growing up on a Bay of Plenty farm, our dog used to catch and kill skinny starving cats that had been dumped just before people went away on their Christmas holidays. What a horrible thing to do to a pet. At least the dog killed them quickly, so they didn't starve to death. I could never understand why people thought it was kinder to release a cat into bush, rather than have it put down by the vet?

So, have we got any more volunteers to go pig hunting for a good cause?

What about the Chatham Islands? What breed are they there?

Sorry Rusky, I don't know what kind of pigs there may have been on the Chatham Islands. Perhaps someone else on this forum knows. DoC wiped out all introduced animals as part of the project to rescue the Chatham Islands Black Robin from extinction.

I've now got the sample collection capsules, so I'll be sending them out shortly. I just need more volunteers to send them to.

Once again, my email address is; inger@keymer.name for any hunters interested in cutting a small slice of tissue from the ear of their next pig catch, to go in a special collection capsule that has preservative in it and I'll send pre-paid, pre-addressed packaging to return the capsule and pictures of the kill to Otago University.

Hey Rusky, are you interested in going on a pig hunt? I need more tissue samples. I've still got 12 sample capsules to distribute.

I've still got a few more sample containers that need to be filled. Anymore people hunting pigs in the North Island over the next couple of months?

Hey Linger. I don't pig hunt really. Have in the past but mostly go after deer. If I see a pig though this wknd I'll drop it and remove an ear. Unless your willing to fly me around the country? @moonhunt wI'll be your man if you haven't already tried him?

Let me know if you do nab a pig Rusky and I'll post you a sample kit. I'll just need you to email me your postal address and we'll be all set.

I've already been in touch with Moonhunt.