Indices for Measuring the Efficacy of Aerial Baiting for Wild Dog Control in North-Eastern New South Wales.

Abstract

The efficacy of aerial baiting with 1080 poison (sodium fluoroacetate) for the control of wild dogs (Canis familiaris familiaris and C. familiaris dingo) in the temperate rangelands of north-eastern New South Wales was studied. In each year from 1991 to 1993, 2 indices of the abundance of dogs, one a raw count of sets of footprints per km of transect (SF) and the other an ln-transformed frequency corrected for sightability of signs (CI), were used to quantify the changes in abundance caused by aerial baiting. Abundance of dogs at a nil-treatment site was estimated concurrently. The SF index found the 1991 baiting to be efficacious. Both measures of abundance showed baiting to be efficacious in 1992 and 1993. Reductions of 66.3-84.5% in the abundance of dogs at the treatment site were found for the CI measure. The SF measure displayed abundance changes of 76.1-91.1%. The indices of abundance measured prior to the annual baiting in 1992 and 1993 were similar, indicating that populations returned to their initial abundance within 1 year.