In a national-first, Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) has agreed to fund a full-time “Wild Dog Co-ordinator” in Queensland to expand the hard work already being done by existing local wild dog committees, and to help new committees form.

The new co-ordinator will work within the AgForce Projects team and manager Sue Dillon said the AWI funding is welcome recognition of the major threat wild dog predation poses to livestock welfare and rural communities.

“Wild dog attacks are estimated to cost Queensland livestock industries $67 million annually, and have caused many graziers to exit sheep and wool production altogether because the losses are so high.

“We know the key to successful dog control is to coordinate activities across the region. Individual landholders acting in isolation have little impact on wild dog numbers and if a small pocket of dogs is allowed to flourish, an entire control program can be undone.”

Ms Dillon said the new Wild Dog Co-ordinator will be able to take the most successful control strategies to new areas of Queensland.

“The Paroo shire in south-west Queensland is well known Australia-wide for the success of its wild dog program and the information we’ve gathered there can be very useful in other parts of the state,” Ms Dillon said.

The fulltime co-ordinator position is funded until 2014 and will involve extensive travel throughout regional Queensland.

Key duties and responsibilities of the Wild Dog Co-ordinator will be to develop and implement project plans; to ensure accountability to the wool industry and Commonwealth Government funders and to communicate with producers and other land managers.

The Wild Dog Co-ordinator will link into a federally-funded vertebrate pest control project and other AWI wild dog projects to maximise on-ground outcomes.

Selection criteria and a position description are available from www.agforceqld.org .au > Contact us > Employment. Applications are due by 14 February.