Aerial baiting: Farmers call for action amid rise in livestock deaths after fires

Primary producers at Buchan believe existing control methods are "ineffective" and "insufficient" and say thousands of dollars of lambs are being killed.

They say attacks by wild dogs have skyrocketed since the recent bushfires.

Sheep and cattle farmer Aaron McCole, Buchan, farms with his brother, Warren McCole, and combined have lost more than 30 sheep, mainly lambs, since the fires burnt a majority of their land.

"Farmers are trying to erect fences after the fires, we've got record sheep prices but people can't hold onto them because they're disappearing out of the area and being killed by wild dogs," Aaron McCole said.

"When they're not killing mine, they're killing the neighbour's and when they're not killing theirs, they're killing my uncle's or brother's sheep."

Parched bushland, fire-damaged fences and low feed supplies are likely contributors to the rise in attacks, farmers say, allowing dogs easier access to cleared, private farmland.

"Our fencing is okay but at the end of the day the state government has a responsibility because fences don't kill dogs, they just funnel dogs into properties that don't have exclusion fencing," Mr McCole said.

At Buchan South mixed farmer Andrew Sutton said wild dog attacks had been a long-term issue for local farmers but had increased since the December/January fires.

"Over the last five years we've lost between $10,000-$15,000 in lambs to wild dog attacks," Mr Sutton said.

"The dogs never got burnt out in the fires and we've had a lot more dogs and attacks and I put that down to the region being under-funded."

Farmers like the McColes and Mr Sutton are calling on the government to implement aerial baiting in the area, viewed by a majority of Gippsland farmers as an effective way to control and kill invasive pests such as foxes, cats and wild dogs in hard-to-access terrain.

The government deploys sodium fluoroacetate baits, known as 1080, in six hard-to-reach areas on Crown land Gippsland and the north-east using a three-kilometre livestock buffer zone.

However, the government has previously rejected calls to do the same at Buchan due to the endangered spot-tailed quoll.

"You look at areas like Omeo and Swifts Creek where aerial baiting has occurred and while there's still dogs in the area, they have good results from aerial baiting but at Buchan that's not the case," Mr McCole said.

Centre for Invasive Species Solutions national wild dog management coordinator Greg Mifsud said Buchan was one of the worst-affected Gippsland areas for "consistently high stock attacks" due to its difficult terrain and restrictive access.

The wild dog management project is industry-funded by major contributor Australian Wool Innovation with additional support from Meat & Livestock Australia and several livestock advocacy groups.

Mr Mifsud said evidence indicated aerial baiting would be an effective way to reduce wild dog numbers near Buchan given its "lack of impact" on the endangered quoll populations.

"At the moment everyone is working to the best of their ability to manage the problem but I think the situation with the wild dogs and the burnt country is just exacerbating the problem," Mr Mifsud said.

"Given [Buchan's] location, the isolated terrain and lack of access, it is one of the most suitable candidates to expand the aerial baiting program in Victoria."

"With the published research on quolls and the lack of impact on aerial baiting on the quoll population, there's really no excuse for aerial baiting not to happen within the three kilometre livestock protection zone."

Research undertaken by CISS on wild dogs and foxes in Victoria and NSW suggests effective predator control programs such as 1080 aerial baiting could enhance spot-tailed quoll populations in areas such as Buchan.

The research is based on observations on the NSW border where aerial baiting adjacent to Kosciuszko National Park is conducted once a year.

"Quolls in this area of Kosciuszko National Park are considered common and are spreading onto adjoining farmlands," Mr Mifsud said.

"The Victorian quoll population has decreased from all known locations except for the area around Buchan and the Lower Snowy River catchment and these areas are currently exposed to wild dog management including ground baiting, and aerial baiting on the border."

In 2007, further research by Dr Andrew Claridge, now a senior research scientist with the NSW government, found aerial baiting had "no observable impact" on local quoll populations.

The research involved trapping 16 quolls at a site in southern NSW, fitting them with mortality sensors and releasing them, before deploying meat baits containing 1080 and a biomarker to determine if the animals had been exposed to the toxin.

Three feral cats were also collared and according to the report, one quoll and two cats died.

"The quoll did not die from 1080 but both cats showed clear signs of poisoning," the report read.

"Of the 15 remaining collared quolls, 12 were retrapped. Four of these tested positive for [biomarker] rhodamine B. Three individuals originally collared were not retrapped but confirmed alive at least seven weeks after bait deployment."

The state government has not confirmed if it will expand the aerial baiting program to Buchan in Victoria's east.

However, it did flag ground baiting in the region could be hindered in coming months due to the bushfires and recent rains restricting access.

In January, the government announced funding to aid landowners in bushfire-affected areas to repair managed fences between private and Crown land, including making fences fire-resistant with concrete posts and better able to exclude pests such as wild dogs.

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