Hog'n Dazs: Ice cream firm faces sudden shortage because feral pigs keep eating their tropical fruit crops
- Feral pigs have been busted destroying one ice cream maker's tropical fruit crop
- Daintree Ice Cream Company believes the pigs are drawn to the organic fertiliser
- Owner David Mainwaring says the problem is costing him big bucks
A specialist gelato maker is battling a herd of bush pigs, as they feast on the fruit intended for his ice cream making business.
Daintree Ice Cream Company's owner David Mainwaring said the situation was so bad, 'All of the new young fruit trees that we put into the ground [at his on-site orchard] get dug up pretty much as soon as you put fertiliser around the tree.'
The business in Diwan, North Queensland, has built a reputation on ethical land management, but admit their sustainable practices may be partly responsible for the influx of greedy swine.
Inside scoop! Wild pigs have been caught on camera pigging out on the Mainwaring's crops
'We are super conscious of not impacting the natural world around us and that means not using synthetic fertilisers and pesticides and also allowing for the uninhabited movement of native wildlife,' Mr Mainwaring told The Daily Mail.
'The problem is that this creates a soil the pigs are interested in also (they’re after worms). Some mornings I wake up and it actually looks like a tractor has been ploughing up my orchard all night.'
'When they do this ploughing around young plants it means the plants can actually be ripped out of the ground completely and generally die.'
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The Daintree Ice Cream Company prides itself on their unique approach to ice cream making, growing more than 15 species of rare fruit trees used to create exotic flavours such as black sapote, sapodilla and soursop.
However, a video on their Facebook, page capturing one feral hog sneakily pigging out on a piece of jackfruit, reveals that different may not always be better.
'I wonder if any other ice cream shop in the world shares this problem,' the company mused.
Mr Mainwaring also admitted his ability to bring home the bacon was being compromised.
'Just this week I’d have had 60 or 70kg of fruit taken by pigs. That's worth almost a grand to me.'
'It costs us a lot of money,' he said.
Swine dining: The Daintree Ice Cream Company's is famous for their exotic flavours
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