A TRAP 10 years in the making is set to spring on wild dogs and foxes.
Landowners in NSW are days away from being able to use spring-loaded 1080 ejector baits after a decade of successful trials in the state's national parks.
Canid Pest Ejectors, previously known as M44 Ejectors, are a mechanical bait delivery device that sprays a sealed capsule of 1080 poison into the mouth of targeted pest species.
The baits require 2.7 kilograms of vertical pull force to set off the spring-loaded ejector, with foxes and wild dogs the only species in the bush capable of doing so.
The traps have been available in NSW since 2005 under a minor use permit, with National Parks and Wildlife ranger Rob Hunt estimating 600 staff in National Parks, Local Land Services (LLS), and NSW Forestry had been trained to use them.
But despite extensive trialing across the country, including in Queensland and Victoria, the technology had not progressed to general use.
That changed earlier this year when the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority approved the technology for NSW, with the state government signing off on the new pesticide control order last week.
Mr Hunt said National Parks had worked with LLS to develop a training package for farmers to use the baits as part of their pest control regime.
As a result, a short ejector course component has been added to the standard 1080 training course already delivered by LLS.
Mr Hunt said the new trap minimised the threat of domestic dogs accidentally ingesting poison.
"Lots of landholders have lost good farm dogs, working dogs or domestic dogs to a bait that has been moved to another paddock by a fox," he said.
"So there are a number of farmers who say they don't like 1080, they don't want it on their property.
"But the most exciting thing for landholders is that this is a bait that stays where you set it."
Mr Hunt said trials had delivered a knockdown rate of up to 93 per cent for foxes and up to 85pc on wild dogs.
"But we've really pushed that these ejectors are an 'as well as' technology, an additional control tool," he said.
"They're not there to replace methods already in use, like ground baiting, aerial baiting, or trappers... it's just another tool."