There is a tsunami of wild dogs and more needs to be done to get rid of them as they impact on farming and peri-urban areas across Australia.
That is the opinion of Australian Wool Innovation (AWI)’s Ian Evans and National Wild Dog Facilitator Greg Mifsud, after a month-long series of community meetings in Victoria.
Their view is shared by many farmers, including Buchan South’s Peter, Phyl, Andrew and Julie Sutton, whose livestock are regularly attacked by wild dogs (see more on their story below).
Not surprisingly, Victoria’s farmers want the wild dog bounty to continue beyond next month (May), as part of successful strategic actions against wild dogs.
This year, government-employed wild dog controllers (WDC) in the Omeo Valley have killed more than 15 wild dogs.
“They have been females on the move,” said WDC Anthony Websdale at a community meeting in Swifts Creek.
“The overwhelming response from farmers at these meetings was they wanted the wild dog bounty to continue,” Statewide Wild Dog Community Engagement Officer, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Barry Davies told Stock & Land.
Wool producer Russell Pendergast, Benambra, agrees. This week he began laying baits against wild dogs that attack his weaners and wethers; his 1000 Merino ewes begin lambing this month.
He hears the wild dogs at night said a dog had been shot this week by one of his neighbours.
“We just battle on with dogs,” Mr Pendergast said.
“They’ve been here since I was a boy and they’ve always been a problem for farmers, living in the bush outside our control.
“It’s a pest they’ve taken the wild dog bounty away. It was doing a good job.”
“We’ve seen a major influx of wild dogs in recent years,” AWI program manager Ian Evans said.
AWI funds the community wild dog management groups that deliver ground baiting on private property; many groups also employ wild dog controllers to trap and kill wild dogs.
Last year, 17 community groups laid 33,112 ground baits and members of the public handed in 587 wild dog scalps. Community baiting began again this month in many Victorian districts.
Since July 1 last year, Victorian government controllers have distributed 4000 aerial baits, 1255 on-ground baits and trapped 106 dogs to the end of March. Nearly half of the aerial baits were distributed in the Omeo Valley.
Mr Evans said it was important all private and public land owners and managers participated in the program.
Mr Mifsud said there were noticeable numbers of dogs in rural landscapes and in the peri-urban areas outside cities and towns across Australia; and this was another issue challenging land managers.
Stock & Land has previously reported wild dog sightings and incidents on the outskirts of Bairnsdale and Omeo; and the Victorian government’s data includes towns like Gembrook on the outskirts of Melbourne.
While the wild dog bounty is supposed to finish on June 30, Mr Davies said farmers and hunters with scalps needed to bring them to the final collections in May.
The Sutton family, Buchan South
The Sutton family, Buchan South, have all been regularly inundated by wild dog attacks on their sheep, but remain resiliently optimistic about the industry.
Peter and Phyl Sutton, their son Andrew and his wife Julie, all breed cattle and sheep and suffer regular predation by wild dogs.
Last season, they had a 40 per cent lamb survival rate from their Witipoll-Aussie White cross sheep because of wild dog attacks.
Andrew Sutton recently killed wild dogs that attacked his Merino ewes heavily in-lamb.
The Suttons are members of a Best Lamb Best Wool group that focuses on community wild dog control.
Peter and Phyl attended the community meeting held last month at Buchan, hosted by the Victorian Government – they were two of three farmers who attended.
“Everyone’s just sick of the situation and you can’t blame people for not turning up,” Ms Sutton said.
“We all lie in bed at night and wait to hear our sheep being attacked.”
Recently the Suttons started putting bells on wethers and running them with their flock ewes and two mobs of lambs.
“You can hear the bell wether grazing, because the bell just moves lightly – so when he’s being chased or harassed by wild dogs, it starts to really make a noise,” Ms Sutton said.
“That’s when we get a move on, because we know it’s dogs among the sheep.”
