COORDINATED community control programs, producer input into local planning, and public land controls have contributed to a downward trend in wild dog predation in Victoria.
Operations manager Hume and Mallee regions Craig Hamilton outlined the trend on a webinar hosted by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning Wild Dog program.
Mr Hamilton said the wild dog program performs control work in response to incident reports for livestock killed, maimed or harassed by wild dogs across 16 wild dog management zones in eastern and western Victoria.
The trend in incident reports since 2014 has been downwards, reducing by more than half.
"This year so far in response to 303 farmer related incident reports, the wild dog program established 2323 bait stations and replaced 4648 baits over 1450km, with a further 700km to be completed by the end of the financial year," he said.
Latest Stories
"Wild dog controllers have established 1919 trap sets, and checked those trap sets 12,659 times, and have helped facilitate the protection of farmland through community wild dog control."
Mr Hamilton said the downward trend in incident reports had been achieved through strong collaboration with landholders and community groups, successful community baiting programs, aerial baiting program, improved technology in pest exclusion fencing and expansion of exclusion fencing networks.
"The aerial baiting program is conducted only in areas where ground access is difficult and where there is a high number of livestock losses and farm related incident reports," he said.
"This year there were 3731 baits laid over a series of transects totalling 425km.
"The aerial baiting program is conducted in autumn and spring."
Australian Wool Innovation community wild dog control coordinator Mick Freeman, East Gippsland, said 102 landholders were supported by community wild dog coordinators across 72,600ha of private land with 13,252 baits in 2021.
Mr Freeman said a suite of community fact sheets had been developed on foxes and wild dogs providing land managers with contact points for assistance, available support, ground baiting tips, managing predators post–bushfires and guardian animals.
He said vertebrate pest management workshops on wild dogs, foxes and feral pigs are planned for Tubbut, Buchan, Mansfield and Cudgewa.
According to Anthony Websdale, senior wild dog controller, Bairnsdale, baiting programs should be pencilled in on the calendar just like shearing or summer drenching programs.
Mr Websdale said a financial gain of $14,000 was achievable in a scenario based on 1000 first cross ewes to achieve a seven per cent increase in lambing (70 lambs) valued at $200 per head through best practice ground baiting.
"The cost of a 10–week baiting program with 70 meat baits per run (every two weeks) is an estimated $1575 and your time," he said.
"With baiting, it's not just lambing percentages but wild dogs and foxes can carry some diseases causing foetal abortions in livestock."
