PRESSURE is mounting on the Victorian government to reverse its shock decision to change wild dog management in the north west of the state, or at least discuss it with SA's government and livestock industry.
Last month the Vic government announced its dingo population was at risk of extinction and in need of immediate protection,
With no consultation the unprotection order was removed with dingos or wild dogs now protected on 1.6 million hectares of the north west of the state, including 250kms along the SA-Vic border from the River Murray to Bordertown.
In the past Vic producers were able to trap or bait dogs on public land, including the extensive national parks, within a three kilometre area of private land. This has also provided a buffer to dogs entering SA.
Since the decision was made, Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven has sought a meeting with Agriculture Minister Ros Spence to raise her urgent concerns and has also written to Ms Spence and Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos.
"The SA government stands side by side with industry when it comes to the concerns that we have and the implications of Victoria's decision and the pressing need to destroy any wild dogs migrating from Victoria into SA" she said.
In recent months even with the control in place and quarterly baiting in Ngarkat Conservation Park there has been a few serious attacks on SA Mallee flocks near the park, but SA Dog Fence chair Geoff Power now fears dogs could reach the South East and wreak havoc on the state's most productive sheep areas.
There would also be "big strife" if they got into the Adelaide Hills, he warned.
"We have tracked wild dogs for hundreds of kilometres and we have seen before the great difficulty in controlling dogs in peri-urban areas such as the Moreton Bay District Council which butts into the Brisbane CBD, " he said.
"There is also a huge dog problem in the hinterland of the Gold Coast."
Mr Power was "gob smacked" to see the unprotection order removed and is pleading with the Victorian government to re-think a "decision made on the run".
"At the end of the day we don't want to see dingos become extinct but they need to be controlled and with the system they had in Vic with that 3km buffer zone between private landholders and national park it was a system that was working very well - if something is not broken why break it?," he said.
"Think about the mental anguish of producers at night worried about their flocks and not knowing what they are going to find the next day."
Livestock SA has also voiced its concerns about the "one sided decision". Chief executive officer Travis Tobin says there continues to be a lot of unanswered questions and no meaningful government to government dialogue.
"The main claims underpinning the decision - that is, new research that has not been peer reviewed and the dingo's 'threatened species' status - still haven't been fully explained," he said.
"Victoria's unique stance on the conservation of dingoes, where they consider it to be a wolf species not a breed of dog like the rest of the country, is also puzzling."
He says the decision has serious implications for SA livestock producers and communities bordering the and broader implications for wild dog investment in SA, including the $26.6m Dog Fence Rebuild project.
In Victoria the ramifications are already being felt with Lawloit farmer Alan Bennett earlier this month losing up to 30 ewes in a spate of attacks on his 4000 ewe Merino flock.
He said a "stroke of a pen" by Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action has completely disrupted the long-standing and successful control of wild dogs on farmland around the 750,000 hectare Big Desert Wilderness Park.
Mr Bennett warned this new policy left farmers helpless and said it was a "lose, lose" situation for both man and canine.
Wild dogs were stable in the park for 30 years but now, an overpopulation would lead to more competition for food and the targeting of livestock, he said.
Mr Dimopoulos did not respond to Stock Journal's questions but in an earlier press conference said producers in this area could still seek a permit from the office of the conservation regulator to control a wild dog.
