Coordinated wild dog and fox control this Spring
03 Aug 2021
With a positive season upon us, landholders are being urged more than ever to engage in a strategic wild dog and fox control program in the coming months.
Invasive Species Team Leader with North West Local Land Services, Rebecca Gray, said that wild dog and fox ground control programs occur in autumn and spring annually.
“These periods target the pest animals when they are most vulnerable to have the greatest impact on the population,” Ms Gray said.
“Livestock prices are so strong this year that landholders should use this opportunity to protect their assets from predation.”
Spring pest control programs will commence in August and September across the North West region.
Key principles of these programs include:
- Broadscale – to get as many people involved as possible to remove more of the pest population and maximise the time before re-invasion
- Coordinated – implement regional control programs at the same time to achieve the greatest knock-down rate
- Cooperative – wild dogs and foxes don’t just impact sheep producers, so participation of landholders regardless of land use is crucial
- Integrated – a baiting program should be followed up with shooting and trapping.
North West Local Land Services is offering local landholders free meat baits to undertake their strategic programs and embrace their biosecurity duty to manage priority pest animals on their land.
Ms Gray says that the region has some strong long running groups in the region, however there is always the need for more.
“So far in 2021, 22 groups of landholders have worked together to reduce the wild dog and fox impacts on their properties,” Ms Gray said.
“The success of these groups comes from landholders taking the lead and encouraging their neighbours to be involved. The more widespread and coordinated the effort, the more success we will have.
“Local Land Services offers free online accredited training in the use of baits and pesticides, meaning landholders can save valuable time by foregoing face-to-face sessions.”
Access the free Vertebrate Pesticide Induction Training (VPIT) course here.
To be involved and find out more about the pest animal control programs taking place in your area, contact your Local Land Services office on 1300 795 299 and ask for the biosecurity team.