DINGO MENACE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 29, 4 February 1937, Page 15

DINGO MENACE.

HEAVY STOCK LOSSES.

PROBLEM IN AUSTRALIA. AJfXMAX* MAULED TO DEATH. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, January 29. It may surprise many people who are not familiar with "outback" Australia to hear that the dingo is still a veritable menace to the sheep breeder or the grazier in some of our outlying districts. Complaints have been appearing in the newepapers this summer, on both aides of the Murray, of eheep killed and young cattle attacked by wild dogs in the hill country and more especially in the enow levels, which are free of eheep during the winter.

At the annual conference of the New South Wales Pastures Protection Board held last month a great deal of interesting information about the dingo and hie depredations wae supplied by the delegates present. One landowner who has a eta t ion on the Victorian eide of the border estimated that during the past year wild dogs have killed more than 1000 of hie sheep. In the Cooma distrkt, on the New South. Wales side, it ie reported that between 6000 and 7000 eheep were destroyed by wild dogs during 1936. Bolder Than Ever. In the Koseiusko district cattlemen holding leases in the snow country complain that the dogs are now bolder and more dangerous than ever, and that not "only are calves killed as soon as they are born, but sometimes even yearling steers are mauled to death. Laat spring h> heavy were the loesee from dingoes in the hill country that several lessees simply brought their sheep back to the plains soon after sending them out, and some of them have threatened to abandon their leases altogether. Unfortunately, when country that has been halfcleared and grazed is abandoned it always becomes a breeding ground for wild dogs, and thus constitutes a serious menace to the adjacent holdings. On the Southern Tablelands there is a Dingo Destruction Board at work, which makes, systematic efforts to deal with this pest. It exercises supervision over a wide area covering the Bombala, Croma, Gundagai and Yass districts. It employe a number of men to destroy dingoes, but owing to the cunning of these animals the process of killing them out U difficult and slow. The most successful method is poisoning, but even I when the skill and experience of the professional trapper is pitted against the sagacity of the wild dog, the "warrigal" often wins. Hostility of Settlers. Moreover, the killers are often hampered by the hostility of settler* and farmers, who fear that their sheep doge and cattle dogs may'fall victims to the poisoned bait. The"men engaged in this work are paid a weekly wage and a bonus of £3 on every dingo killed, and though this may seem a munificent reward, few trappers seem to get large returns. Funds for this work are obtained by a levy of one farthing pef >cre from all stock owners having land in the Dingo Board's area. These facts may give' some idea of the nature of the problem which the dingo presents to our *ettlers and stock owners in the wilder part of New South Wales, and they fully justify the seriousness with which the Pastures Protection Board treated the * object at its annual conference.