LANDHOLDERS are being invited to attend a meeting to form a new group and help tackle the issue of wild dogs in Tenterfield.
The meeting will be held at the Tenterfield Landcare office next Monday to officially recognise the Oakey Creek Swamp Oak Wild Dog Control Association.
Landholder Jim Landers said wild dogs were a problem faced by farmers and landholders in the local area.
“It is an ongoing battle, you just can’t relax because the minute you do, the dogs attack,” he said
“Wild dog control is at a critical stage.”
Mr Landers said he and others have trapped and baited at least 40 dogs in the Forest Way area in the past 18 months.
“Dog numbers are on the increase and aerial baiting costs are exploding,” he said.
There are currently 13 smaller control groups that come under the name of the Tenterfield Wild Dog Association and it is hoped this new group will fill in the gaps on properties where dogs have been spotted.
It is hoped the Oakey Creek group will include between 30 to 40 properties between Bluff Rock and Snake Creek.
Mr Landers said these boundaries were only a draft and could be extended to include more properties where dogs have been spotted or have caused problems.
The meeting has been organised by the Tenterfield branch of the Border Rivers Gwydir Landcare office.
Project coordinator Mandy Craig said at their worst, the dogs have been known to attack 10 to 15 lambs in a night.
“We get calls nearly every day with landholders telling us they have had sheep and lambs killed and if the dogs don’t kill them they are pretty badly injured,” she said.
Last spring, Mr Landers said he lost his lambs to wild dogs and while 10-15 animals in a night was at the extreme end of the scale, Ms Craig said landholders needed all the assistance they could get with both baiting and tracking.
She said Border Rivers Landcare had been successful in securing some funding for each of the 13 control groups and would use the funding to develop a wild dog strategic operation management plan.
National wild dogs facilitator Greg Mister will be at the meeting and it is hoped he will assist in progressing the group’s operational plan.
The group will also discuss the success of the March baiting program as well as plan ahead for the spring and winter baiting program.
The meeting will be held from 9am-11am at the Tenterfield Landcare office on Martin Street.