A pox on the fox

By Kath Gannaway
COLDSTREAM lamb producer Guill de Pury has welcomed the reinstatement of a fox bounty.
The State Government last week announced a $4 million, four-year program aimed at tackling problems with foxes and wild dogs in rural and bush areas.
Minister for Agriculture and Food Security Peter Walsh said the bounty was a long-term, year-round commitment to pest control.
“The bounty will reward Victorian farmers and hunters with $10 for each fox and $50 for each wild dog,” he said.
Mr de Pury who has farmed sheep in the valley for the past 50 years, said in the past they had had as many as 300 fox baits taken in a year.
He said he believed the bounty would make a difference.
“Foxes can kill the lambs by the hundreds, up until they are about six weeks old when they are a bit big for the foxes, but certainly, they are a big problem,” he said.
“If we weren’t keeping the numbers down we would be losing a lot of lambs.”
There are specific requirements for shooters to collect the bounties, with the Woori Yallock DSE offices one of 21 collection points across Victoria.
Skins will be collected monthly and bounties paid.
Mr Walsh said any Victorian could collect the fox bounty, however only landholders in designated wild dog control areas and financial members of the Sporting Shooters Association Victoria, Field and Game Australia and the Australian Deer Association would be eligible for the wild dog bounty.