SSAA Victoria is pleased to see an initiative by DELWP that has mitigated many of the negative impacts a fox baiting program would have had on hunters in East Gippsland.
Hunters understand the importance of fox and wild dog control. Unfortunately, those control measures have traditionally negatively impacted on hunting activities involving hounds or companion gun dogs. Traditional baiting programs effectively lock up huge areas of public land for long periods, as the risk of dogs being inadvertently poisoned is too high. Those restrictions can lead to animosity and conflict between stakeholders.
In this case, after consultation with local hound hunters, a baiting program has been developed that will only prevent hunting with hounds or companion gun dogs for a period of 10 days in a single block during the hunting season. This is a huge improvement on previous programs and shows that objectives of land managers and hunters can both be met with cooperation and good will.
It is encouraging to see such positive engagement and a proactive program that mitigates as many of the negative impacts as possible, while still achieving program objectives.
SSAA Victoria supports programs that have both positive environmental outcomes and consideration of the impacts on hunters. The minimisation of negative impacts on hunters should be a goal of all pest animal control programs on public land.
The Association considers that there would be significant scope to carry out control works in a similar manner in other areas once this program is evaluated.
- Background
The Southern Ark project is a wildlife management project undertaken in the State Forests and National Parks across East Gippsland Forest Management Area. The on-ground focus of Southern Ark is the ongoing control of foxes using buried 1080 and PAPP baits, for the benefit of native wildlife. Foxes are a major threat to a wide range of native species. Southern Ark has been in operation since 2005, operating across 3,600 bait stations distributed across one million hectares of State Forest and National Parks, mostly to the east of the Snowy River.
- Increasing the area to be baited – including Kenny and Colquhoun Forests
The Bushfire Biodiversity Relief and Early Recovery (BBRER) program is a State Government-funded response to the fires that burnt across Victoria in late 2019 and early 2020. The BBRER program has requested that the Southern Ark team increase the area that it currently baits foxes to include the Colquhoun and Kenny forests (see accompanying map), in order to reduce the predation risk for native mammals, birds and reptiles as their populations start to recover post-fire.
- Working in co-operation with hunters who use scent-trailing hounds
Acknowledging that there are several stakeholders that use these forests, and in particular hunters who use scent-trailing hounds to hunt Sambar Deer, the Southern Ark team is adopting a modified approach to the usual fox control approach of having toxic baits buried within bait stations throughout the year.
To minimise the impact of the fox control program on hunters who use scent-trailing dogs during the open season, a short intense period of fox control will be undertaken across a ten-day period in October.
In this program over 400 bait stations have been established and baited with unpoisoned (“free-feed”) baits across the Kenny and Colquhoun forests. A prolonged period of free feeding with unpoisoned baits will take place, with all bait stations being rebaited on a weekly basis for nine weeks. This approach ensures that a regular pattern of visiting bait stations and bait consumption is developed amongst resident foxes; experience has shown that once foxes learn there are baits buried in the bait stations, they regularly return to the stations to see if baits have been replaced.
After the nine weeks of free-feeding, a 10-day period of poison baiting will take place. All free-feed baits will be replaced with fox-strength PAPP baits on Monday the 5th of October. The stations will be checked on Wednesday the 7th of October, Friday the 9th of October and Monday the 12th of October. Any baits taken by foxes during this time will be replaced with another PAPP bait. On Wednesday the 14th of October all PAPP baits will be removed and free-feed (unpoisoned) baits will again be placed in the bait stations. From the 14th of October, free-feed (unpoisoned) baits will be maintained in bait stations until December 1st 2020. As this is outside of the season where hunters can use scent-trailing dogs to hunt deer, PAPP baits will be placed in the bait stations and the toxic baiting program will be sustained until the end of March 2021 (funding dependent).
- Safeguarding Scent-trailing Hounds and Companion Dogs
The poison baiting programs are undertaken in a manner that puts maximum pressure on foxes while minimising the risks to domestic dogs. Bait stations have been established at one-kilometre intervals, and all baits are buried at least 15cm below the surface of the ground. This program is also using fox-strength (400mg) PAPP baits, which are unlikely (but not guaranteed) to kill dogs that weigh more than 15kg. PAPP baits also have an antidote however this must be administered by a vet within 30 minutes of the bait being eaten.
When the toxic baiting commences, A3-sized corflute Warning Signs will be positioned on all vehicle tracks running into the area of forest included in the baiting program to advise those visiting the forest that the baiting is taking place.
We are asking that you refrain from hunting with scent-trailing hounds and companion dogs in the Colquhuon and Kenny Forests from Monday the 5th of October until Wednesday the 14th of October, and that you do not interfere with either the free feed or the PAPP baits during anytime of this project.
- Further information
Enquiries concerning this fox control program can be directed via email to Andrew Murray, Southern Ark Operations Manager, on andrew.murray@delwp.vic.gov.au.
