Wild dog management
Effective wild dog control programs rely on multiple tools used in an integrated, coordinated approach. Successful management programs are community-driven and collaborative, with land managers working together with their relevant jurisdiction.
Why managing wild dogs is important
Australia’s agriculture sector is vital to the nation’s economy, food security and regional communities. It produces most of the food Australians rely on, drives billions in exports, and supports jobs and businesses across rural and regional areas. Managing wild dogs is critical to protecting our important sheep, wool and cattle industries.
The livestock industry, producers and local, state/territory and Federal governments all work together to manage the impacts of wild dog attacks on livestock.
1
According to ABARES, the gross value of cattle slaughtering and live exports is forecast to rise by 1% to a record $18.9 billion in 2025–26.
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World beef demand is expected to rise in 2025–26 driven by population growth and rising per capita protein consumption in emerging markets.
3
In 2024-25, the Australian Government provided $87.5 million in matching research and development funding to MLA to invest in our meat industries.
4
The value of sheep meat and live sheep exports was estimated at $5.8 billion in 2024–25.
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The value of wool production was estimated at $2.6 billion in 2024–25.
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Approximately 200,000 people are employed in Australia's wool industry across the supply chain.
Key industry and government initiatives
In SA, since 2021 there has been $55m invested by the state and Commonwealth governments and livestock industry into wild dog management including:
- More than 1200km of Dog Fence replaced and about 700km to be built
- 1.3m ground and aerial baits for wild dogs as part of the eradication program inside the Dog Fence.
These investments have been game changing for SA producers, with 35,000 sheep already restocked into paddocks that were previously overrun by wild dogs.
Since 2015, the Qld Government has allocated almost $25 million for the Queensland Feral Pest Initiative, with 9,000 kilometres of fencing to enclose and protect 6.5 million hectares of grazing land. This has helped boost sheep numbers in the state.
In NSW, a critical 32-kilometre wild dog fence gap along the South Australian border north west of Broken Hill was completed in 2025.
Since February 2020, landholders have had the opportunity to engage a professional dog trapper through a program run by Western Local Land Services. This program to date has resulted in 102 wild dogs, as well as other pest animals including feral cats, foxes and feral pigs, being removed from the landscape.
What to do if you suspect you have wild dogs on your property
If wild dogs are presenting a threat, the first step is to contact your local regulatory body to find out what control operations are occurring locally and if there is a local wild dog management group in your area.
While the NWDAP 2020-2030 is the overarching strategy that guides best practice management of wild dogs Australia wide, each state and territory is responsible for how it regulates wild dog management and it is important to know which authority administers these guidelines in your area.
- ACT – Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate – Environment
- NSW – Local Land Services
- NT – Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
- Queensland – Department of Primary Industries
- SA – Department of Primary Industries and Regions
- Tasmania – Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment
- Victoria – Agriculture Victoria
- WA – Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development
Create your own plan to manage wild dogs
Once you’ve contacted your regulatory authority, you will need to develop a property wild dog management plan that provides direction and guidance of the type of control you will deliver, the timing of when undertake control and link’s in with the local wild dog group coordinated programs. You may also want to consider delivering extra control during key lambing and calving periods to protect young animals from predation.
If there are no groups in your area, you can utilise a range of NWDAP-developed resources to help get you started. Remember, the most successful programs are always: collaborative (land managers working together); coordinated (dogs aren’t chased from one property to another) and landscape-scale (reflect how dogs use the landscape and don’t recognise title boundaries).
Check out the working plan to manage wild dogs here or the plans for organic producers.
Identifying if you have wild dogs
Distinguishing between wild dog, fox, cat and quoll tracks
The presence of wild dogs is often discovered by seeing their tracks in the soil, but sometimes the tracks of other species look similar to those of wild dogs (see Figure 1). Wind, rain, organic matter in the soil and other factors can make it difficult to accurately identify some tracks or determine how fresh they are.
The average size of wild dog footprints also changes throughout the year as pups become active and begin wandering around. For example, in late spring and early summer, some wild dog footprints (of pups) can be as small as those of foxes and it can be hard to tell them apart. By autumn and winter, all wild dog prints are usually much larger than foxes’ prints (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Relative size and shape of wild dog, fox, quoll and cat prints
The front foot length of adult wild dogs (excluding nails) is usually greater than 6 cm. When wild dogs, foxes and cats walk, their front foot hits the ground first and their back foot print usually lands nearby (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Usual foot print placement for wild dogs, foxes and cats
In good track-reading conditions in sand, silt, or mud:
- dog prints are usually larger and rounder, foxes’ prints are smaller and more elongated, and cats’ prints are small and very round
- dog toe nails usually point out straight, fox nails point inwards, and cats have no toe nail marks
- the back foot usually partly overlaps the front foot for dogs, mostly overlaps for foxes, and almost completely overlaps for cats
- the front foot of quolls shows all five toes (wild dogs, foxes and cats only show four).
For more information to help identify tracks and other signs of wild dogs and other animals see the book Tracks, Scats and Other Traces: A Field Guide to Australian Mammals (2004), by Barbara Triggs.
NWDAP has taken care to validate the accuracy of the information at the date of publication. This information has been prepared with care but it is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, to the extent permitted by law.
Wild dog management tools
To address wild dogs on your property, effective wild dog control programs rely on multiple tools used in an integrated, coordinated approach. Hear from the Ironpot Creek Wild Dog Trapping Syndicate from Queensland, as well as Western NSW and Queensland’s Paroo Shire landholders (in Part 1 and Part 2) explain how they use a combination of tools to successfully manage wild dogs.
Be sure to download the free FeralScan app which includes WildDogScan, one of its suite of pest management tools. Use WildDogScan to find out if wild dogs have been sighted in your area, map wild dog activity, document wild dog problems, inform your neighbours and local biosecurity authorities, and identify priority areas for control.
Before starting a wild dog management program, we strongly recommend you become familiar with the code of practice for the humane control of wild dogs and the standard operating procedures for each tool.
Welfare tools and research
The NWDAP emphasises humane, safe and effective management techniques to mitigate the impacts of wild dogs.