Has the west gone to the dogs?
Local farmers say the wild dog situation has never been worse.
Heather Cameron, who runs a grazing and tourism business at Lower Lila, north of Bourke, near Enngonia, said wild dogs were making an enormous impact on her livelihood.
“Wild dogs are the worst thing we have to deal with at the moment” Heather said.
“We’ve noticed evidence of dog damage, including rip marks on sheep, scars up over the backs of lambs, and sometimes they have their tails chewed off.
“One of the rams had a testicle ripped out and one of the ewes had half her udder ripped off.”
“We’ve been baiting for years – my partner and I were involved in setting up a baiting station at Ford’s Bridge, through the local Landcare Group and the Local Land Services Ranger would come out and poison the baits for us.
“We use fresh meat, but some of the dogs are really cunning. They’re just too clever, and they won’t take it, so we’ve got to get a trapper in.”
Keeping wild dogs out of the area is the obvious solution and Member for Barwon, Roy Butler has been on the road to check on progress of the dog fence repairs on the state’s western border. (…)
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