Arid Lands workshops an opportunity to comment on draft Wild Dog Plan

Posted 28 July 2014.

The SA Arid Lands Wild Dog Management Plan has been developed on behalf of the SA Arid Lands (SAAL) Natural Resources Management (NRM) Board with significant input from community, and these latest workshops – hosted by the district-based NRM Groups – provide the first opportunity to comment on a draft.

SAAL NRM Board Presiding Member Janet Brook said the completed plan would be an important document for the Board and for the region

“It will provide a guide for land managers and government staff conducting wild dog management in the region to 2018,” she said

“It will contribute to improved cattle and biodiversity outcomes outside (north of) the Dog Fence – where the wild dog/dingo is not declared – and control programs inside (south of) the Dog Fence where the wild dog is a declared pest.”

The interactive workshops will offer the SA Arid Lands community and other stakeholders an opportunity to comment on the draft plan and will discuss and make amendments to the plan in real time.

To date, the plan’s development has been heavily informed by canvassing stakeholders – including surveying land managers inside and outside the Dog Fence – and by information gathered from the six-year Dingo Research Project.

“Stakeholders have already been asked about a variety of issues with about 120 contributing their views already,” Ms Brook said.

“Responses to date have surrounded defining the difference between a ‘wild dog’ and a ‘dingo’, the effectiveness of current management strategies, monitoring and data collection, the value the dingo has in the environment and in Aboriginal culture, baiting, cultural issues around dingo/wild dog management and the best way to develop a management plan.

“These workshops are an opportunity for our community and stakeholders to tell us if we have got the Plan right.”

The consultation process has been inclusive of the wide variety of stakeholders with an interest in wild dog management including pastoralists, conservation groups, Aboriginal communities, industry bodies, animal welfare organisations, government agencies, and district-based NRM Groups.

The draft plan looks at the goals and control measures for three zones: inside the Dog Fence (Zone 1), a 35 kilometre buffer immediately outside the Dog Fence (Zone 2), and outside the Dog Fence (Zone 3).

It addresses control measures including ground baiting, aerial baiting, trapping and shooting, as well as issues of compliance, communication, monitoring and evaluation of control measures and public safety.

The draft plan also takes into account existing state and national policy including the National Wild Dog Action Plan and Biosecurity SA’s draft State five-year Strategic Plan developed by the SA Wild Dog Advisory Group.

Further information