A contentious proposal to introduce bounty payments for killing feral animals and expand hunting rights across NSW has sparked fierce criticism from animal rights groups, with opponents warning it could turn the state into “a South African game park.”
The backlash follows NSW Premier Chris Minns’ suggestion that licensed shooters could be paid bounties for culling animals like feral pigs and cats. The proposal aligns with broader reforms pushed by the NSW Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, which also includes calls for the establishment of a dedicated minister for hunting.
Animal Justice Party MLC Emma Hurst condemned the plan, arguing that bounty programs are ineffective and lead to severe animal cruelty.
“Research shows these programs don’t work, and they create an environment of extreme cruelty,” Ms Hurst said. “There’s no proper oversight or accountability. It’s essentially a bloodbath.”
She accused the Shooters Party of disregarding animal welfare under the justification that feral animals are non-native. “These animals still feel pain and fear. Encouraging what amounts to a Rambo-style killing spree is unacceptable.”
Ms Hurst further warned that the Bill’s provisions — including expanded access to Crown land for hunting — would waste public funds and degrade NSW’s environment. She advocated for more humane, species-specific solutions, such as immunocontraceptive darting, which has been used internationally.
NSW is currently dealing with widespread feral species, including wild pigs, deer, camels, cats, and dogs.
Defending the proposal, Shooters MLC Rod Borsak said the Bill is about integrating the state’s 200,000 licensed hunters into a broader conservation effort. “The aim is to bring recreational hunting into the conservation paradigm,” he explained.
Borsak argued that bounties would incentivize farmers and conservation-minded hunters to target invasive species like feral cats, which are highly destructive to native wildlife and difficult to manage with existing methods.
He dismissed fears that the plan would result in uncontrolled hunting, emphasizing that stringent safety and regulatory measures have governed public land hunting for decades. “There’s a well-established framework in place,” he said.
The plan would allocate $1 million for feral pig bounties — offering $15–30 per snout — and another $1 million for wild dogs, foxes, and cats. However, the use of spotlighting and thermal scopes would be prohibited on Crown land, and all forms of hunting would remain banned in national parks.
The Invasive Species Council also rejected the proposal. CEO Jack Gough warned the bounty system would waste public money and undermine coordinated, science-based feral animal control programs.
“Australia has a long history of failed bounty schemes — they are costly, ineffective, and vulnerable to abuse,” Gough wrote in a letter to NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe and Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty.
The Council highlighted aerial culling as a more effective alternative, pointing to the recent population drop of feral horses (brumbies) in Kosciuszko National Park, from an estimated 13,000–22,000 to as few as 1,500.
While some praised the ecological recovery enabled by the cull, others, including Ms Hurst, raised concerns about population estimates and called for alternative methods like darting.
“We’re always told these actions must happen urgently, but mass killings lead to rapid population rebounds,” Ms Hurst said. “It’s a short-term fix that won’t solve the problem in the long run.”
