A Victorian MP is pushing for the poison, 1080, to be banned in Victoria's alpine region as it recovers from devastating bushfires.
Key points:
- A Victorian MP calls for 1080 to be banned in alpine Victoria
- Organisations say baiting helps remove feral animals from protected areas
- One local councillor says the bait threatens endangered local dingoes
The Legislative Council is sitting in Bright today, and Animal Justice Party's Andy Meddick is using the first sitting in the regions since 2012 to push for the ban.
It follows the discovery of a number of endangered alpine dingoes in north-east Victoria, which Mr Meddick said are vulnerable to the bait.
He argued that the region would benefit from the ban as it recovers from bushfires.
"We have an opportunity to get rid of our 1080 poison in that environment, encourage the alpine dingo to do the job, to actually come back to numbers that are sustainable in that area, and to protect those other threatened native fauna."
ABC News
)Alpine Shire Council does not use 1080 poison, but DELWP and Parks Victoria continue to use the poison across the region's national parks and state forests.
Many farmers in the region rely on the bait to keep wild dogs that maim and kill their livestock at bay.
Mr Meddick said he welcomed consultation with landholders, but argued that studies had shown most wild dogs carried dingo genetics, and culling them damaged the balance in the ecosystem.
Alpine could follow NSW move
The Blue Mountains City Council in NSW banned the use of 1080 this year.
The move was condemned by the Invasive Species Council, which called on the Blue Mountains City Council to reconsider the use of 1080 and argued it actually helps fauna recover from bushfires.
"If the NSW parks service had been unable to use 1080 to reduce fox numbers after last year's bushfires we would have seen even worse suffering among our native animals as recovering wallaby, bandicoot, bird, frog and lizard populations were hunted down by predatory foxes," Invasive Species Council CEO Andrew Cox said.
But Alpine Shire Councillor Charlie Vincent wants her council to follow the Blue Mountains City Council lead and help protect local dingoes.
Image supplied: Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and Research Centre.
)"Beyond the indiscriminate cruelty of 1080 poison, there are other key reasons why it is banned in almost all other countries in the world," she said.
"Even though dingoes are listed as a threatened species in Victoria under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee, ongoing fox baiting programs using 1080 poison in the Victorian High Country is continuing to cause the horrendous suffering and death of countless dingoes, and many other native wildlife species, many of which, the program is ironically, intended to protect."
Obligation to remove feral animals
Parks Victoria has outlined that it aims to minimise the use of 1080 in parks, and only uses it where necessary while working with relevant legal requirements, regulatory frameworks, health and safety standards, and animal welfare considerations.
“Parks Victoria has a legal and moral obligation to remove feral animals from protected areas," Parks Victoria Manager Conservation Programs, Ben Fahey, saiid.
"We use a range of control methods to protect and improve the health of the natural environment within our parks, one of which is 1080 bait products.
The ABC has contacted DELWP for comment.
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