ON-FARM

Victoria at the forefront of wild dog control

VICTORIA has been named as being at the forefront of integrated wild dog management by the National Wild Dog Management coordinator Greg Mifsud.

Staff writer
 Victoria’s Wild Dog Community Coordination team includes Lucy-Anne Cobby (front, left). Image: The National Wild Dog Action Plan

Victoria’s Wild Dog Community Coordination team includes Lucy-Anne Cobby (front, left). Image: The National Wild Dog Action Plan

Mifsud said Victoria's Community Wild Dog Control Coordinators (WDCCs), such as Hume region's Lucy-Anne Cobby, based in Wodonga, were responsible for helping engage with community members who have suffered from predation by wild dogs and giving them an understanding of the full toolkit for wild dog control measures.

Cobby said she works to connect people who are suffering from wild dog predation, with other groups, so they know they're not alone and not the only ones suffering those problems.

"All affected stakeholders are encouraged to get on board to work together to manage this potentially devastating predator," she said.

Sheep producer, Geoff Bussell, from Carboor in northeast Victoria said if you can take an 80 per cent lambing to 140% by using every tool in the book you're pretty silly if you don't.

The WDCCs facilitate regular landholder forums to both review the past year and plan ahead for the next season of wild dog control. Meetings usually take place in autumn and provide grassroots feedback from those most adversely affected by wild dogs.

This is where landholders can talk to their local Wild Dog Controller and together, create a plan of action for the season ahead.

Mifsud said Victoria is a great example of how integrated, multi-tool wild dog control can work and announced that in conjunction with AWI, the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning (DELWP) has recently released a video explaining how coordinated community dog control works.

See the video at: https://youtu.be/0PZdhLENQ6g

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