Animal-lovers are outraged at an Australian country town's plan to hold a Christmas 'pig and pussy hunt' in which wild boar and feral cats will be trapped, shot, knifed, dynamited or run over.
Up to 100 hunters from all over Australia are converging on the gold-mining town of Pine Creek, in the Northern Territory, to take part in the hunt on cattle stations surrounding the town.
Organisers say the aim is to wipe out as many wild pigs and cats as possible. Both species are blamed for killing millions of Australian native animals a year, including endangered mammals, lizards, snakes and birds.
There are about 2.5 million pigs in the Northern Territory, with the larger males renowned for their ferocity and razor-sharp tusks.
The hunt, which starts at dawn on Boxing Day, will culminate in a New Year's Eve party. A prize of HK$4,000 is being offered for the largest pig to be killed.
'We don't care how they kill them, as long as we get rid of them,' said hunter and organiser Rod Haines. 'You can shoot them from a helicopter, run them over on the road, get them with a bow and arrow or chuck a stick of dynamite at them.' He said the last option was not recommended, after hunters strapped a stick of dynamite to a wild pig a few years ago and lit the fuse. The creature promptly bolted under their car and blew itself, and the vehicle, to pieces.
