Gone to the (Golden) dogs?

There was lots of numbers and statistics in yesterday’s Blog, so I thought I’d focus on something with a few less numbers in it today.

As some people know, I sit as a landholder representative for the Dunkeld region on the Maranoa Regional Council Wild Dog Advisory Group.  In an effort to raise the awareness of the wild dog issue in the Maranoa region and to provide an incentive to persons to control wild dogs, we decided at a recent meeting to develop a programme to promote and encourage people to undertake trapping and shooting programmes by having an annual competition to reward those persons who take the time and effort to undertake dog control and present their scalps.

There are also a number of people who, while they may be controlling wild dogs, are not presenting their scalps for Bonus payment. The programme that highlights the process for scalps may encourage these people to take part and allow us to identify the true numbers of wild dogs within the shire.

We have decided to call this programme the GOLDEN DOGGER awards! It’s all just a bit of fun aimed at de-stigmatising the wild dog problem in the shire. We are hoping to get some little trophies made up with “Gold” dogs on them and present them at some council function (perhaps Australia day awards?) next year. Imagine having a little trophy of a golden dog as a conversation starter in the pool room.

The categories that are available are

·         Golden Dogger

The main prize – Most number of scalps presented in the 12 month period open to all people in all areas of the shire. The winner of this category would most likely be the winner of one of the other categories below.

·         Inside Dogger

Most scalps taken from inside the barrier fence - Open to all trappers and shooters. It is anticipated that this category would most likely be won by a professional trapper or shooter

·         Outside Dogger

Most scalps taken outside the barrier fence - Open to all trappers and shooters

·         Novice Dogger

Most scalps by a person either inside or outside who has not won any section previously

·         Junior Dogger

Most scalps presented by person aged under 18 yrs

·         Most active Landholder – Inside the fence

Restricted to landholders for scalps presented by them caught inside the barrier fence.

·         Most active Landholder – Outside the fence

Restricted to landholders for scalps presented by them caught outside the barrier fence.

·         Most active Roo Shooter

Restricted to Professional roo shooters for scalps presented by them caught either side of the barrier fence.

Wild dogs are a huge issue in the Rural and Peri-Urban parts of the shire and anything we can do to control the problem has a positive impact, not only on the rural industries in the shire, but also in maintaining the biodiversity of our natural ecosystems.