NO doubt some people in the former Victorian Department of Primary Industries will be glad to see the back of me.
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I first started reporting on the ramifications of wild dog attacks and escalating numbers of them back in the early 1980s.
Pardon the pun, but since that time I have been like a dog with a bone in my persistent coverage of the issue.
Many of my journalist colleagues joke about it constantly.
But it is something which I feel strongly about and am disappointed by the inept attitude and responses taken by a succession of governments.
A lot of farmers have been forced out of sheep because of the horrendous losses suffered. Wild life in the bush has been decimated with black wallabies, once commonly sighted, now a rarity.
Those farmers who still run sheep have been forced to take extreme measures such as enclosing their entire properties with electric fencing in a bid to thwart regular attacks.
And still the cunning, elusive pests continue to cause problems.
The sad part is little has changed since the 1980s.
There is evidence to suggest the wild dog problem accentuated after the building of Lake Dartmouth because it forced them from long-time breeding locations.
Approach after approach by individual farmers and the Victorian Farmers Federation have fallen on deaf ears.
The simple fact is the government, whether Labor or the Coalition, has not been prepared to provide sufficient money to really combat the dogs.
It was back in the Kennett government era when a respected and senior VFF official from the North East approached the Agriculture Minister and said more money was needed for the wild dog problem.
The response from the minister was: “There are not many votes in wild dogs.”
It was suggested by the VFF man that perhaps the government’s arrogance would cost it dearly at the ballot box.
The minister said the government was safe, but Labor leader Steve Bracks swept to power. Little changed with the new government.
When the Coalition came back to power, aerial baiting was finally introduced, but the number of dogmen in the field reduced.
The dogmen are at the coal face and essential in the battle to curb dog numbers. But they have being stymied by red tape, office duties and pandering to bureaucrats.
The present government has eliminated the $100 wild dog bounty which was introduced by the Coalition in 2011 and resulted in 2129 skins cashed in.
No doubt dog numbers will increase. The simple fact is the wild dog problem is here to stay for decades to come unless a concerted effort is made.
