Control dogs with ‘toolbox’
Border Mail, Page: 16. Thursday, 16 July 2009
The Victorian Minister for Agriculture has refused to consider using aerial baiting to combat wild dog problems and is instead urging farmers to support a “toolbox” full of strategies.
Speaking at a Wodonga rural financial counselling launch yesterday, Joe Helper said the Government would continue to use a mix of methods to control wild dogs in North East Victoria.
This included the recent construction of electric exclusion fences at Walwa while a third fence at Berringama (west of Corryong) was due to be finished soon.
“I don’t need to be convinced by anybody that wild dogs are horrible problems, particularly when it faces landholders who run stock on their lands,” he said.
“(But) there is no silver bullet to make this go away.
“When landholders work with their neighbours and use the proven management strategies including baiting, guard animals and electric fencing, effective control can be achieved.
“The more tools we have in our toolbox, the better we are at combating the problem.” Mr Helper also ignored calls for the reintroduction of a $10 fox bounty.
The bounty was recently scrapped and replaced by a lotto-type system where those who shot foxes would go into a monthly draw for a prize.
The prizes, however, are only offered to members of the Australian Sporting Shooters Association branch or the Victorian Field and Game Association, of which many farmers are not members.
Mr Helper said the system was effective and encouraged more shooters to hunt the foxes on Crown land.
“There’s nothing to prevent farmers from shooting foxes on their own property within the legal and safe framework of doing so,” he said.
“What we’re doing through this program is encouraging those who don’t have foxes impacting on their own property to give us a hand.
“I would’ve thought that was a positive thing; to ask a group of people, a large group of people who are pretty good at shooting...to help local landholders, have an impact on foxes in Crown land and give us a hand to control them.”
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