Farmers still wary as no further funding announced for 'feral dog problem'

Talgarno landholder Peter Star said elements of the Wild Dog Management Program had lost funding, in particular the trap alert system.

Mr Star said the trap alert system allowed these to remain set every day of the week.

"(This meant that) if the trap did go off on the weekend, it was either the wild dog controller or somebody equally qualified from within the (Energy, Environment and Climate Action) Department would then go and check the trap within 24 hours," he said.

"The majority of their traps set is on public land.

"The fact is that they're the only ones landholders are not allowed to go onto public land and check wild dog controllers' traps.

"It just makes the wild dog controller's job just that little bit harder."

Yackandandah farmer Dennis Arne agreed, as it meant controllers "are having to spend their time going back out to the sites".

"That's not in response to a dog having been trapped, but in order to deactivate them for the weekend because they can't monitor them remotely now."

Mr Arne said his property was adjacent to state forest, which meant they had fallen victim to wild dog attacks.

"We've put an exclusion fence along the border with the state forest," he said.

"If we do have any attacks that are suspicious, we contact one of the wild dog controllers (and) if it has been a confirmed wild dog attack, then they will set traps in that three-kilometre buffer."

Mr Arne said when there had been issues in the past, "it's certainly been very reassuring to be able to know that a dog controller is in the area setting traps for wild dogs that we know are nearby".

Despite the budget cut, the government insisted that it remained committed to preventing wild dog attacks on livestock.

"Over $2.4 million is allocated to deliver the program while a review is undertaken to determine future management practices that most appropriately balance the protection of livestock and the conservation of dingoes," a spokesperson said.

Department officials confirmed that while no new funding was provided in the budget, it did not necessarily mean that the state's wild dog management plan was ending.

They said it would continue to be funded through "existing resources", and previously announced money.

The funding cut for the trap alert system comes in the wake of revelations that the wild dog protection buffer zone will expire on October 1, 2024.

The North East Wild Dog Action Group has written to past and present Victorian ministers of both agriculture and environment on multiple occasions in the past year to get the decision reversed, but have got nowhere.

The closest they got to face-to-face discussions was when Agriculture Minister Ros Spence offered to visit the area on February 28, but this was cancelled.

Mr Star said the buffer zone was so important because losing livestock to wild dogs was hard to have to handle.

"It's bad enough if they're going to come onto your property and kill your sheep," he said.

"But if you're in a position where your hands are tied and you can't do anything to protect your livestock, to protect your livelihood, then that's creating a dire situation.

"It's been determined that people that suffer from this wild dog predation, the stress, the trauma that they go through ... has been likened to the stress, the post-stress disorder symptoms of people of veterans of the war in Iraq."

Mr Arne said removing the buffer zone meant wild dogs would encroach further on to private land.

"We haven't had any attacks for a while, but we occasionally hear them in the area, and we have seen them on the property," he said.

"I've actually seen them chasing our sheep."

Mr Arne said the lack of consultation with farmers had been especially concerning.

"It seems to us that the decision (to remove the buffer zone) will be made without the input of the group that's going to be most affected by the decision - and that's livestock farmers who are adjacent to state parks and national parks that contain wild dogs," he said.