Farmers count the cost as wild dogs number explode in Victoria's Mallee

The Victorian Government is not doing enough about exploding numbers of wild dogs, farmers in the state’s northwest say, as the ferals kill more and more sheep. The toll is already in the hundreds.

Darren Smith and Ash Jackson, with his son Tim, at Patchewollock on the boundary of Ash's farm and Wyperfield National Park. Picture: Glenn Milne

MALLEE farmers are being forced to stop running sheep in paddocks adjoining public land as wild dog numbers explode, killing hundreds of sheep in recent months.

Patchewollock farmer Darren Smith estimates he and six other farmers bordering public land around the Wyperfield National Park have lost “more than 300 sheep” to wild dogs recently.

Mr Smith has personally lost 60 young ewes in the past few months, valued at more than $20,000, and said he knows of six other farmers who have also recently lost stock.

“It is becoming unviable to run sheep there,” he said.

“There needs to be a full time, not part time tracker and more co-ordination between parks and state forest agencies.

“Why does this keep falling on deaf ears, why isn’t the government accountable?

“Parks staff are out in the park for days on end, raking up leaves around birds nests but they aren’t able to deal with wild dogs.”

Mr Smith has demanded the State Government take responsibility for the exploding feral dog incursion.

The wild dogs live in the Wyperfeld National Park and come out to maul and kill farm animals, not to eat, but “for fun”, he said.

While wild dogs had become a noticeable problem in the past five years, after a bushfire ripped through the region, this year numbers exploded.

Some farmers have been forced to stop running sheep in paddocks that adjoin the public land, devaluing their land.

“If one of my cows gets into the park, I get a call and have to go get it out fast,” the Patchewollock farmer says.

“But when it comes to wild dogs, they can build up in the park and the Government is not properly funding the trappers or co-ordinating them across different agencies or even within the park, there is too much buck-shifting, so the dog numbers are exploding.

“The local Parks staff are worried about speaking out as they think Melbourne will give them the sack.”

He said farmers were told by Parks staff the agency was not adequately funded to put on the required numbers of wild dog controllers to adequately manage burgeoning wild dog numbers.

“There is a part time tracker – and he does a good job – but he has to travel 130 kilometres up and down the Park and he is only allowed to tackle dogs on the boundary, Parks staff within the Park don’t carry guns so they see them all the time but they can’t deal with them,” he said.

“Dogs can travel 20km a night and that park is huge, it could be a million acres.”

A Victorian Government spokeswoman said the recent state budget invested $6 million in the Wild Dog Management Program too reduce the impact of wild dogs in Victoria and to support farmers across the state.

“This will employ more staff to control wild dog populations, expand baiting and trapping and create a more strategic and co-ordinated approach across the regions impacted.”

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