WA farmers say lack of funding for the Wild Dog Action Plan will lead to an increase in attacks to livestock

WA farmers say the reduction of Wild Dog Action Plan funding means it will be a matter of months before impacts are felt, making the issue “imminently problematic”.

Biosecurity groups have been forced to move to reactive programs following the cuts in State Government funding for rangeland organisations.

In some cases up to 50 per cent of funding was cut.

A lack of certainty of funding to the remaining WDAP activities for the 2026/27 financial year and long-term funding was also prompting the change from proactive management.

Central Wheatbelt Biosecurity Association executive officer Linda Vernon said WA biosecurity groups had approached WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis to commit to the continuation of the WDAP, but had received no response.

“We are really concerned,” she said.

“We have now got to look at how we deliver our programs — it’s going from being proactive to reactive — and review what that looks like within the resources and capacity that we have.”

Ms Vernon said all of the work done to deliver a consistent program over the last 10 years could be forfeited in a matter of months if funding were to cease.

“We would see ourselves in the same position they were at as a group a decade ago when livestock attacks on properties were constant,” she said.

“We have been able to manage wild dog numbers to a point that they’re not impacting or are a non-issue because we’ve been able to deliver landscape-scale control and also have access to government lands.

“Everyone’s very disappointed and frustrated.”

In addition to the State Government’s funding cuts, permits for wild dog control on jointly-managed conservation land in the Wheatbelt were not renewed from July 2.

The permits allowed CWBA to bait and trap dingoes within 340,000ha of reserve land in the Dalwallinu, Morawa and Perenjori shires, a proactive management measure.

Ms Jarvis said landowners were within their rights to refuse pest management on their lands and recommended farm businesses and biosecurity groups reach out to the traditional custodians and have a “frank discussion” about what could be done.

“The minister’s response that you need to work with your neighbours was very disappointing,” Ms Vernon said.

“We have been trying to resolve this for the last three years.”

Ms Vernon said the worst of the impact was going to be felt in areas closer to Perth.

“When the dogs move out into agricultural lands they’re much harder to manage because you’re being reactive, but also because they are interacting with humans and there’s no consistency into the patterns of how they move through the landscape,” she said.

“It’s not only about protecting small stock.

“This will become problematic for human safety and our communities.

“It really shouldn’t need to get that bad before we do something.”

Ms Vernon said she felt it was unlikely Ms Jarvis would announce a position on the wild dog action plan until the Biosecurity Council of WA investigation into the perceived conflict between the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act, the Biodiversity Conservation Act and the Dog Act, was completed.

Ms Jarvis said the investigation was “likely to take some time to complete and consultation will be necessary”.

“I remain supportive of effective wild dog control and protecting WA livestock farmers from the impact of wild dogs,” she said.

“The Biosecurity Council will investigate how wild dogs, including dingoes, are regulated as declared pests under the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act, as well as the control measures used to reduce their impact on livestock.”

Mollerin sheep farmer Carl Fuchsbichler, who runs roughly 3500 sheep on his combined properties south of Lake Moore, said he was one of the first to be affected by wild dogs, usually when conditions were dry on the stations or numbers had increased to a point where dogs were competing with one another.

He said he had lost five sheep this year to wild dogs, including a pregnant ewe carrying twins.

“There were three dogs around, one has been trapped and destroyed but there’s two still at large,” he said.

Mr Fuchsbichler said with the size of properties expanding and fewer human numbers in the Wheatbelt, it was inevitable that assistance would be required.

“You can’t just do it all yourself, and that’s what the State Government is asking people to do,” he said.

“That’s, in my eyes, a bit of a problem.”

Mr Fuchsbichler said now was the time to ramp up wild dog management activities, not pull back, particularly with the increase in tree plantations for carbon sequestration and firearm licence restrictions.

He said tree plantations were the perfect habitat for wildlife, while hobby farmers would struggle to manage wild dogs on their smaller properties due to a lack of access to firearms.

Shadow agriculture minister Lachlan Hunter said Ms Jarvis had every opportunity to shut the inquiry down from the outset.

“Instead, Labor has created confusion and uncertainty across the agricultural sector,” he said.

Mr Hunter said the developments show why producers are demanding certainty and clear commitments from the Government.

“Wild dogs don’t recognise property boundaries, and neither should effective pest management,” he said.