A MILESTONE has been reached in the wild dog battle in central western Queensland, with the newly-formed Winton Wild Dog Control Group conducting its first baiting program.
The group was formed in August, after an interim committee secured funding and support from the Winton Shire Council earlier in the year.
AgForce will hold a series of dog days in Winton, Stonehenge and Aramac from next Tuesday to Thursday, which will focus on tools for managing wild dogs and eradication strategies.
The days will feature AgForce wild dog spokesman and Paroo landholder, Peter Lucas, national wild dog facilitator, Greg Mifsud, and professional trapper and wild dog caller, Tony Townsend.
Winton Wild Dog Control Group chairman, Peter White, Athelstane, Winton, said this year a number of packs of more than a dozen dogs have been sighted.
"We had the individual dog control syndicates and we were just fighting a losing battle with them, because every year the dogs were just getting worse and worse," he said.
"We had to try something else."
The dogs have had a huge impact on Athelstane, forcing Mr White and his wife, Cathy, out of sheep in 2008.
In late 2008 the Whites kept about 130 ewes with 70 lambs at foot, after selling the main herd. After it rained, they were unable to check on the sheep for about two weeks.
Mr White said when they checked the sheep, just five of the lambs were still alive and 50 ewes had been killed.
The Winton Wild Dog Control Group has secured more than $200,000 funding and conducted its first baiting program on Monday, but Mr White said baiting was not the only strategy in play.
"We will run an aerial baiting program twice a year; ground baiting whenever people find dog tracks on their properties; get people trained to trap dogs; bring in a professional trapper in to take the dogs out that won't take a bait, and just generally get people more aware of dogs," he said.
The Winton group was based on the successful Paroo model. The Winton Shire has been split into four divisions, and 10 elected delegates from those four divisions form the group's committee.
Mr White said landholder participation was the key to the success of the program.
"Our aim is to get at least 90 per cent coverage of where the dogs are breeding," he said.
"We know we won't get 100pc coverage because of the landholders that don't want to participate, but our aim is 90pc."
