A NEW wild dogs aerial baiting bid, submitted by the State Government, has cleared its first hurdle after proving it will not impact native adversely impact spotted-tail quoll populations.
The revised application was submitted to the Federal Government in December and will now proceed to the 20-day consultation period required under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act.
Speaking at the annual gathering of Victoria’s Mountain Cattlemen’s Association, Minister for Agriculture and Food Security Peter Walsh said the wild dogs aerial baiting bid aimed to combat destructive wild dog populations in North East Victoria and East Gippsland.
“If the application secures final approval from the Commonwealth, Victoria will be ready to deploy an aerial baiting program across six sites in North East Victoria and East Gippsland this autumn,” Mr Walsh said.
Mr Walsh said the revised application included new information that the State Government believed aerial baiting would not adversely impact spotted-tail quoll populations.
“This extra information includes the equivalent of 5,000 days of monitoring of animal movements taken by 113 remote cameras that were operating between December 2012 and March 2013. Quolls were not detected in the areas monitored,” he said.
“The previous Labor federal government rejected Victoria’s original application on ridiculous grounds, treating Victoria differently to New South Wales where aerial baiting has been permitted.
“However the Victorian Coalition has always believed that aerial baiting would provide valuable support to on-ground control measures like shooting, trapping and baiting.”
In December the Victorian Wild Dog Action Plan was launched that sees local communities involved in the setting of operational targets and local area work plans for public and private land in each of the 15 wild dog management zones.
