Management of wild canids in Australia: free-ranging dogs and red foxes

Abstract

Wild canids are widespread across most of main land Australia. They can have major impacts on livestock production and biodiversity values and often necessitate active management. The impacts of free-ranging dogs and foxes should be managed concurrently, as there is often substantial overlap in their impacts and because most available control methods do not discriminate between the two species. Effective management of the impacts of wild canids requires a strategic approach that is driven by participants and based on specific local issues and available knowledge. Strategic management programs, as undertaken, are a form of adaptive management, in which participants gain knowledge about the problems they are addressing by conducting quasi-experiments. These examine the effects of management actions on dearly defined objectives. Importantly, it is the specific local impacts of wild can ids that define the management objectives in these approaches, not simply the numbers of animals. Adaptive management can be used to suppress or enhance populations of wild canids depending on the managemcr1t objectives; that is, mitigation of damage to livestock and biodiversity, or conservation of dingoes. This chapter discusses a strategic approach to managing the impacts of wild canids. The nature of those impacts, including new density:damage functions, and the specific tools and methods that are available to counter them are also discussed.