RAPIDLY growing wild dog populations on the Far North Coast have primary producers and land care groups calling for more government funds to set up an extensive trapping program.
The highly populated nature of the region has rendered baiting efforts useless, farmers say, and stock, wildlife and farm dog losses are becoming hefty.
Some producers fear an attack on people is just around the corner.
Byron Shire Council has just allocated $20,000 to wild dog, fox and wild cat control. Landcare groups and individual property owners in the Byron hinterland have been covering the costs of a private trapper, who has taken 13 dogs in the past month.
Deputy mayor, Patrick Morrisey, said there was increasing concern that the Livestock Health and Pest Authority’s (LHPA) program of 1080 baiting was simply not working.
“For a start, it cannot be done extensively in highly populated areas, so most of the areas these dogs are roaming are not being treated at all,” he said.
Packs of up to 30 dogs have been reported, pulling down cattle, killing sheep, goats and domestic dogs and a plethora of wildlife.
Macadamia growers Jan and Doug Cody, “Kalinda”, Nashua, lost their Jack Russell and had a Border Collie severely mauled in early morning attacks.
“These wild dogs have 50 millimetre canines and side teeth like a chainsaw. A person wouldn’t have a hope if they were attacked, especially by a pack,” Mr Cody said.
North Coast LHPA senior ranger, Dean Chamberlain, says eradicating dogs via trapping is only a short-term measure.
“The whole North Coast has an extensive wild dog problem, due to the high number of small holdings, the vast amount of habitat for wild dogs to live in and the plentiful food source,” he said.
“Populations are increasing so fast now – where once it was a dingo problem, it is now crossbred feral domestic dogs, and they breed year-round.
“The problem won’t go away by eradicating the current packs – the habitat and the food will still be there.
“Landholders, no matter how small or whether or not their land is productive, need to take ongoing responsibility, and dog owners have to maintain control of their animals to prevent them from breeding with the feral dogs.”
Baiting was the most cost-effective ongoing method of wild dog control in the region, he said.
The LHPA is the only body able to authorise use of the bait 1080.
Trapper, Jim Rogers, Main Arm near Mullumbimby, said wild dogs had run in the Northern Rivers region for 30 years, but the current numbers and more brazen nature of the animals had never been seen before.
In just over two years, he has removed 78 dogs – and that wasn’t working the job fulltime.
This year, property owners have joined together to hire him at $100 to work an area and $100 per dog caught thereafter. He has been servicing small landholder lifestylers through to larger beef, cane and horticulture operations.
“The wild dogs are becoming far more game, coming up on verandahs and taking pet food, killing domestic and farm dogs and actually eating them,” Mr Rogers said.
Producers described the wild dogs as having some dingo characteristics and some indication of Alsatian content – they howl, have the larger canines and range in colour from black to tan often with a darker stripe down the back.
Some that have been trapped weigh up to 75 kilograms.
Beef producer George Rushton, Booyong, is now taking part in LHPA baiting programs, having lost several calves to wild dogs in the last few months.
“I’ve seen them running singularly and in packs and they tend to live among the timber plantations,” he said.
