THE Liberal Party has vowed to provide funding to support two wild dog trappers if elected in next year’s state election.
The pledge was made by Opposition agriculture spokesperson David Ridgway during a wild dog forum at Orroroo on Tuesday night.
Mr Ridgway said dogs had been seen as far south as the fringes of the Barossa Valley.
“We need people back on the ground to start pushing back against the problem,” he said.
Mr Ridgway said other jurisdictions had recognised the threat and there were 18 dog trappers working in Vic, 13 in WA and eight in Qld.
Livestock SA president Geoff Power said he believed numbers had been in a holding position, until the state lost its full-time dogger last year.
“Since then, the whole thing has just exploded,” he said.
“There’s been 220 dogs trapped or shot between Roxby Downs and South Gap station (north of Port Augusta) since the new year.
“The dogs are moving south and they’re being pushed down because of the high concentration of dogs in the north.
“The waves of dogs outside of the Dog Fence has put huge pressure on the fence.”
Mr Power said a cross-industry approach was needed to control numbers.
“Thirty years ago it was mainly all stations up north,” he said.
“Today, we’ve got private conservation parks and mining companies who have bought properties, but which have little incentive to control wild dogs.”
SA’s last full-time dogger Brian Gill said when he was working in the role, he trapped 108 wild dogs within 14 months.
“We need to get people on the ground, especially when trying to control the smarter dogs, as they can take up to a month to trap,” he said.
The SA Arid Lands Natural Resources Management board announced in March that land managers in the arid lands region south of the Dog Fence had access to funds to support wild dog trapping.
Under the initiative, the board is contributing up to $120,000 across the region, covering 50 per cent of the cost to land managers associated with the employment of a professional dog trapper.
A spokesperson for the board said, to-date, four agreements had been signed and expressions of interest have been received from another four applicants, with some of the agreements representing multiple neighbouring properties.
