Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick demands end to fox and wild dog bounties

Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick has launched a campaign to end Victoria’s fox and wild dog bounty saying it encourages mass cruelty.

Foxes on a fence near Dobie south of Ararat. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick has launched a campaign and petition calling on the Victorian Government to ban fox hunting and terminate the $10 bounty on the introduced pest, as well as ending the $120 wild dog bounty.

Mr Meddick’s campaign site states “foxes and wild dogs are intelligent, playful animals with amazing similarities to our companion dogs and cats.

“Yet, the Victorian Government awards prize money to hobby shooters for every fox and dog killed across the state.”

“This incentive has encouraged a mass cruelty event that has impacted both target and non-target species. Since dingoes are extremely difficult to differentiate from wild dogs, this threatened species is often caught in the crossfire.”

As it stands the government is once again preparing to accept applications for the bounty in March, under which more than 874,000 fox scalps and 3900 wild dog body parts have been collected in Victoria since the scheme was introduced in 2011.

Victorian Farmers Federation livestock president Steve Harrison said Mr Meddick was trying to “pull at the heart strings of urban voters who knew little of the reality of working out in the country.

“There’s nothing worse that seeing a lamb with bite marks all ‘round its neck.

“We have to deal with life and death every day, whereas they (urban Victorians) can choose to deal with it when they want.”

However Mr Meddick’s campaign argues that despite the bounty costing taxpayers at least $17 million, “fox numbers have only dropped by 4 per cent since the scheme began.

“There is no evidence to suggest long term conservational benefit, and yet the suffering continues,” the campaign states.

“While the environmental damage caused by foxes and wild dogs must be acknowledged, so too should effective and humane alternatives – such as fertility control, fox-proof fencing and guardian animals.

“We urge the government to acknowledge their responsibility to protect our environment without the use of violence.”

However Mr Harrison said the fox and wild dog problems would be a lot worse without the bounties.

“In fact the bounty should be increased to encourage more hunters,” he said.

Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick launches campaign to end the fox bounty.

The Animal Justice Party petition calls on Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio and Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas to “fully support an end to the Fox and Wild Dog Bounty Program in Victoria.

“We acknowledge the cruelty inflicted on both target and non target species including threatened and protected dingoes, who are often caught in the crossfire.

“We urge the government to acknowledge their responsibility to protect our environment without the use of violence. We’re calling for a complete end to the Fox and Wild Dog Bounty in Victoria, as well as an end to cruel fox hunting with hounds, which sees them literally torn apart limb by limb.”