More than 49,000 baits will be dropped from an aircraft  at more than 500 feet along ridge lines and in inaccessible country from the Queensland border all the way down to Balranald. The baiting runs from October 2-16, with 1080 poison put into red muscle meat and dropped by a specially designed aircraft that has a feeder bin, hired from Charleville. The aerial baiting is done at a rate of 10 baits per kilometre. 

The aerial baiting  follows an on-the-ground baiting program over the last few weeks with 87,000 baits put out over about 19 million hectares in the Western Division. The massive operation involves many Local Land Services staff covering large areas from Hungerford through to Wilcannia, Cobar down to Broken Hill and Wentworth. 

Overseeing the operations is Western LLS Biosecurity Team Leader Tim Wall, based at Wilcannia. It is one of the biggest and largest pest animal control programs in the world. “We have 20-foot freezer units located in Broken Hill and Cobar. The meat for the northern operations comes out of Dubbo and in the southern area out of Broken Hill. We have five or six people in each location drying the meat and laying the poison.”

Mr Wall said the 1080 baiting was having effects as a small trial back in June with South Australian biosecurity officers along the dog fence produced 20 dead dogs. The LLS also has 17 groups of landholders in the Western Division who work together in baiting programs, which has proved very successful.

Related: Ever wondered why we spend $1.7million on a border dog fence?

“The thing with 1080 is that the results are not often seen as the dogs may not die for a week. Farmers only know because they have fewer attacks and see fewer tracks.” Mr Wall said wild dogs were moving further and further south. “It will be an ongoing problem,” he said.

Landholders near Wanaaring say the dog problem has only got worse in the last six years, and up until then it was “rare to see a wild dog”. Many think when rain events in 2011-2012 knocked down parts of the border dog fence, there was a wild dog invasion and they have bred up quickly, mixing with other domestic dogs and having larger litters.

At Toonborough, Wanaaring, the Bartletts have put up the carcases of more than 35 dogs, caught this year.

The aerial baiting can’t come in enough  time for many western landholders struggling with the drought. Ben Strong sees a lot on his rounds as Wanaaring’s postman but was confronted by the seriousness of the wild dog problem. The bodies of dogs hang on trees over 100 metres, dozens of them, trapped as they wandered one property near Wanaaring. Mr Strong, of Wanaaring Caravan Park and Store, says the dogs are not even easy to trap, avoiding traps and baits.

 Western farmers though were given some financial reprieve last week when the NSW Government announced it will waive dog rates for western lessees- a benefit of up to $2000 a year. Farmers pay about 5.5 cents per hectare for dog rates per year, for properties over 1000 hectares. The move will benefit about 1300 farmers. 

The Pastoralists Association of West Darling says the border dog fence has never been in a better condition. Farmers pay about $1.7 million a year for its upkeep.