Technology combined with old fashioned tracking is being used to catch and eliminate a pack of wild dogs terrorising livestock and pets in Lower Belford.
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Sheep and domestic dogs have been killed and maimed in the past month on at least two properties in the district.
Landholders have sighted a pack of five dogs including two dingoes that are living in an uninhabited 500 acre bush block.
There have also been reports of dog attacks at Rothbury.
Last week Sharon and Leroy Woods woke to find another three of Dorper cross sheep had been so badly mauled by dogs they had to be euthanasia.
This was the second time in the past month, the couple who have lived on their 25 acre hobby farm on Standen Drive for the eight and half years, have woken to a scene of carnage in their paddocks.
“We have never had any trouble before,” said an upset Leroy who had only hours early had to put the sheep down.
“But now these dogs are about and have found our sheep we are really worried.
“This is the second attack and so far we have lost four sheep.”
The Woods have used Alpacas to guard their flock but in both attacks the sheep were in paddocks without the Alpacas.
They have purchased another two Alpacas but given the ferocity of the attack Hunter Local Lands Services (LLS), senior bio-security officer, Richard Ali warns the dogs may not be averse to attacking the Alpacas.
“Alpacas are good with foxes but once you get a pack of dog its a totally different situation,” he said.
Mr Ali spent the weekend gathering information from other landholders on the dogs and he set-up a trail camera on the Woods property which hopefully will take some photographs of the dogs when they next return to the property.
And for a someone with more than 20 years experience controlling feral pests ‘intell’, technology, co-ordination and old fashioned foot slogging have proven in that time to offer the best methods for tackling dog problems.
“Once we identify the offending animals we can then move on to tracking them down if they are wild dogs or finding their owners if they are domestic animals,”he said.
Mr Ali said getting the identification right was vital something which was highlighted recently in a successful wild dog campaign in the Merriwa district.
In that case 11 dogs were exterminated and they included some local domestic dogs that were attacking neigbouring landholder’s sheep.
At Merriwa the funded campaign was a joint effort of the Hunter LLS, Hunter Valley Combined Wild Dog Association and landowners.
“We have to remember its not always wild dogs, domestic dogs not locked up at night can be the culprits – so that’s why identification is so important,” he said.
“And that’s why its also so important we hear from people who have either lost livestock or think they have sighted wild dogs.
“Then we can build up intelligence on a district and see if we have a hot-spot that needs a wild dog control campaign.”
Mr Ali described the problems in Lower Belford as a ‘hot-spot’ given the number of attacks.
He said Hunter LLS were in contact with the local landholders and also National Parks and Wildlife to co-ordinate a district wide campaign that would include Belford National Park.
Baiting was not an option on the small landholdings but possible in the park and larger properties. For the best results, once again proven in Merriwa, a variety of control methods are used.
For example Mr Ali uses his specially trained dogs for tracking down the wild dogs.
“These wild dogs can travel 11-12km a night looking for food,” he said.
“So we like to track them to assist with our control methods.
“The more intelligence you get the better the results.”
One of the new ‘tech’ methods that can assist in control campaigns in an App.
FeralScan is a free resource for farmers, landholders, pest controllers and the community to map sightings of pest animals, record the damage they cause, and document or plan control activities in their local area.
The App can be used on a smartphone to record pests, navigate to locations, and record where you undertake control actions.
Mr Ali encouraged landholders to use the App as his organisation can easily access the information.
“It can really help us understand the problem and develop the best control methods,” he said.
In the meantime he also asked landholders who had any dog issues to contact him at Hunter LLS mob: 0429722944 email: richard.ali@lls.nsw.gov.au