THEY hunt in packs, stalking then killing or maiming young steers, heifers and calves ... wild dogs are the scourge of every rural landholder and everyone has a role to play when it comes to eliminating the threat.
Scenic Rim Councillor, Marshall Chalk, is a fourth generation beef and dairy farmer who takes controlling wild dogs seriously.
He said council’s 1080 baiting program was something all rural property owners needed to take part in.
The program had been run biannually but Covid and changes to legislation created a hiatus.
“New legislation made it a bit more onerous to do as there was more paperwork and requirements on landholders,” Cr Chalk said.
“Council officers had to be retrained in order to administer it and there was a bit of a drop off for a while.
“Now [council] are trying to run a bit of a campaign to get everyone working together.
“It is not much use if only one or two landholders are doing baiting, you need groups of people taking part to get a good clean out of the wild dogs.”
He said there had been an influx of new property owners who were unaware of the baiting program and the implications around not taking part.
“If you have a property that is 100 acres [40 hectares] or over, you can participate in the program,” he said.
“Many blocks of land are around that size so it’s not just the larger landholders who are able to take part.
“It’s not much use us baiting and then leaving safe havens for dogs to breed up again.“We need everyone to work together and do this in a planned manner; one that is modelled on the breeding cycle so we can keep the numbers down or [wild dogs] will breed up again and that becomes everyone’s problem.”
The program uses sodium fluoroacetate baits, known as 1080 (pronounced ten-eighty).
He said the baits had proved “very effective” in previous years.
“Those taking part put baits out just before breeding season starts because dogs give birth to seven or eight pups and if you don’t get to them early you end up with an additional seven or eight dogs out hunting,” he said.
“It’s about getting in there before that happens.”
He said most wild dogs didn’t live on the properties they hunted on.
They lived in the mountainous or heavily timbered country and travelled only to hunt or taunt livestock and domestic animals.
“It’s not just about cattle and agriculture,” he said.
“Wild dogs cause all kinds of problems with koalas, wallabies and kangaroos too.
“We work hard to protect our natural environment and baiting is another avenue to do that.”
The baiting program uses a pesticide that has been deployed across Australia since the early 1960s and was proven to be the most effective and humane way of dealing with wild dogs without having an impact on other species.
New participants in the program, and those who have not attended a baiting station in the past two years, must contact council to determine their eligibility and be informed of current legislative requirements.
The baiting program starts mid-April.