THE State Government is set to consider a new bid to upgrade and extend the State Barrier Fence, including building a 490 kilometre dog and emu proof fence around the Esperance Shire to stop the wild dog problem from spiralling out of control.
A submission is being prepared by the Department of Agriculture and Food WA for the State Government to consider early next year.
The submission will ask for the State Government to fund the capital cost of fencing materials for the Esperance section, estimated to be about $2.45 million.
Construction costs have been estimated between $3000-$4000 per kilometre, or up to $1.96 million, and could potentially be the responsibility of the grain and livestock farming community.
The fence would cover a region from Jerdacuttup to Cape Arid and as far north as Salmon Gums.
One of the driving forces for construction of the fence has been the Northern Mallee Declared Species Group.
Group coordinator Scott Pickering said the Esperance Shire was the only region in southern WA not protected by a fence against dingos, mixed-breed dogs and emus.
“Esperance is unique because we’re surrounded by Crown Land and when the dogs hit the edge of the farming land it’s too late, they’re doing damage,” Mr Pickering said.
His Cascades farm is on the front line of the attacks and is frequently targeted by wild dogs.
“We run sheep but a few guys have gone out of sheep because of the attacks and that leads to the dogs wandering onto farms further into the shire,” he said.
“And there is hardly any sheep left in the Goldfields any more so all the dogs keep moving down here, it’s an ongoing problem.”
He said mining exploration had also led to dogs coming down into farming areas along survey tracks.
The Esperance Shire Council gave “in-principle” support to the construction of the fence at its meeting on Tuesday.
It endorsed the plan, subject to the Department of Agriculture and Food WA completing a cost-benefit analysis, and will investigate the role that it could have in facilitating construction of the fence, provided the State Government funded the capital costs.
Shire president Ian Mickel said politicians are becoming aware of how much damage wild dogs are causing and the need for the fence.
Shadow Agriculture Minister Mick Murray said farmers in the region are losing thousands of sheep to wild dogs and the industry was willing to contribute financial assistance.
He said farmers were being forced to de-stock and move towards crops, cattle or goats because of the escalating problems with wild dogs.
Mr Murray called on the State Government to employ low-risk, work release offenders to help build the fence as part of the Repay WA campaign and form a wild dog action group.
“The Dog Offensive Group would oversee the implementation of the wild dog strategy including controlling wild dogs within the barrier fence and reducing the impact of the dogs outside the fence,” he said.
“The Barnett Government must make a commitment to fund an extension of the State Barrier Fence to combat the escalating wild dog problem that is forcing sheep farmers out of the industry.”
Agriculture Minister Terry Redman acknowledged wild dogs were a menace and impact severely on the profitability of pastoralists.
“This issue was looked at by the group who undertook the recent Southern Rangelands Review and one of the recommendations of the review was to regain control of wild dogs and other biosecurity issues,” he said.
“The Government is currently formulating its response to this report.
“I expect that a plan to deal with the wild dog issue will be a large part of this response.”
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