GPS-tracking livestock protection animals to improve wild dog management outcomes

Abstract

Livestock predation by wild dogs and foxes represents a significant burden on agricultural enterprises in Australia. In addition to wild dog control techniques such as poisoned baiting, trapping and shooting, some landholders have begun to utilise livestock protection animals, including dogs, to reduce the frequency and severity of predation events. In practice, the deliberate addition of large, free-roaming dogs, such as maremmas, to rural environments has provoked apprehension among some stakeholders in wild dog management. In order to inform decisions relating to the use of dogs as livestock protection animals, we aim to fit GPS-tracking collars to sympatric wild dogs and livestock protection animals in north-eastern NSW.