The Northern Tablelands Local Land Service is working with 20 wild dog control groups on 227 properties across the region, to lay 62,244 baits and also be conduct free 1080 baiting training courses for landholders.

Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall said that this is part of a state wide offensive which will see nearly a quarter of a million baits laid across NSW in a multi-layered attack.

“Wild dogs are a major issue for landholders and reduce agricultural productivity by $15.7 million annually and the most effective campaigns are well-coordinated, landscape-wide and use as many available tools and techniques as possible,” Mr Marshall said.

“Local Land Services is using a wide range of initiatives to support landholders manage wild dogs including ground baits, trapping, GPS tracking using collars, monitoring with motion cameras and aerial baiting for inaccessible country.”

The localised programs are part of a broader State-wide offensive against wild dogs this spring, announced this week by NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Katrina Hodgkinson.

All baiting programs are conducted in strict compliance with pest control orders, which are regulated by the Environmental Protection Authority.

The Baldersleigh Pest Animal Control Group attended a pig and dog control field day presented by the Local Land Services staff and SNELC Landcare staff last Friday. 

The big news of the day was that the wild dog that had been causing havoc for the last two years was finally shot by a local landholder on Wednesday October 22. It was a huge relief especially to the worst affected landholders who were grateful for the end of a long period of stress. It was confirmed as the DPI dog released for research purposes and weighed in at 23 kg.

The field day was well attended and included a contingent of BackTrack lads from Armidale who found the sessions of interest. LLS contract trapper Mark Lamb  presented several highly practical sessions on tracking both dogs and pigs and built a range of economical easy to build traps. He also covered the best places to locate traps and identifying sign. It was fascinating even for some of the more experienced farmers.

Brett Cameron gave an overview of how to prepare various pig baits and where to place bait in relation to traps. Many attendees went away with some new ideas to try and the consensus for the day was that it was very worthwhile attending. The presenters were thanked for their comprehensive coverage. Plans were made for the next event for the group in 2015.