By Karen Bailey
IT’S not a barrier as imposing as the Great Wall of China, but it will be enough to keep wild dogs at bay and could mean Victorian border graziers in the Tallangatta Valley can go back to grazing sheep.
When finished, the wild dog fence will be an ambitious 32-kilometre electricified barrier through rugged and remote terrain which graziers and government authorities can use to control and reduce dog attacks.
Financial hardship caused to local producers by savage dog attacks has resulted in a big shift from wool and prime lamb production in the valley, particularly on properties sharing boundaries with densely timbered public land.
Wodonga community engagement officer with the Victoria Department of Primary Industries (DPI), Andy Wernert, said the country was well suited to sheep, but dogs had made sheep production increasingly difficult to pursue.
To combat the problem an old disused fenceline has been resurrected, re-routed and fitted with modern technology to give producers the protection they need.
Many parts of the old fence stretched over steep and rough terrain that were only accessible by foot, so the new path follows a compromise route which has left sections of some properties outside the protected zone.
The modern fence is also of much better quality than the barrier built 20 years ago, using steel posts and long-lasting porcelain insulators (instead of plastic), and a solar energiser power supply to be continuously monitored by the local Towong Shire telemetry system.
The fence’s construction - called the North East Wild Dog Management Group fence project - is a collaborative effort by landholders, the Victorian DPI, Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment, Parks Victoria and Towong Shire Council.
The driving force has been the commitment of the affected landholders.
Mr Wernert said the fence project had been supported not just by graziers on its boundary, but by some several properties away who realised the benefit in preventing dogs from entering their own properties from neighbouring farms.
Rebuilding the fence has also enabled fire trails to be constructed or re-established into previously inaccessible country.
Farmers helped pay for the project and contributed much of the labour, with Victorian government departments meeting the cost of materials - $50,000 worth last year.
Although the fence is still about 40 per cent incomplete, Mr Wernert was confident the rest of the funding would be obtained.
“Now the project has begun, the results are becoming obvious and the applications for funding get easier,” he said.
Locals report a marked decline in the number of dog attacks in areas where the fence has been completed and dog controllers employed by the DPI are concentrating their trapping, baiting or shooting efforts.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter