THE TANAMI WILD DOG TRAP

Australian designed, Australian made. For wild dogs that kill and mutilate livestock and native animals.

Dogs can hunt alone and instinctively pack up and work as a team with additional dogs to bring down farmed cattle, sheep and other flock and herd animals plus native animals. Animals giving birth in paddocks are particularly vulnerable. Ideally, wild dog trapping should be done well before herd animals usually give birth. Even a fox terrier will instinctively team up with a neighbours large bull mastiff or escaped pig dog, both males and females, to work together as a pack to hunt and kill. One dog will bite the rear legs and another will take the throat. Larger dog packs will take down cattle. German Shepherds crossed with dingoes produce wild dog offspring that are particularly savage.

Unlike foxes who hunt to eat, dogs hunt for the thrill of the chase and not always to eat.

A wild dog problem can destroy valuable breeding animals year after year and put livestock farmers out of business. These traps can pay for themselves with each destructive wild dog taken out of its future breeding cycle to save generations of expensive farmed animals and countless numbers of native animals every year.

Place the trap on flat ground where wild dogs have been seen or where they regularly mark their territory. If you have your own dog, let it out of the vehicle and watch where it goes as they may help identify a good trap location by sniffing out and marking on top of where a wild dog has already deliberately urinated or pooed at their usual fence post, tree or other regular marking spots. This is natural top dog behaviour. That will be a good site to set the trap. Scents fade and are regularly re-marked by wild dogs to claim their territory and deter competitors. Scent is an animal communication mechanism.

Hammer in and wire up a steel star picket on each corner to hold the trap securely upright so that trapped animals cannot roll the trap and escape after capture, for even the largest dog will want to escape after being trapped. Check and test that the trap door will drop cleanly and quickly after attaching the star pickets. The trap door is spring loaded to close fast when activated.

The trap has four carrying handles, two on each side, to move this heavy-duty 30 kg cage trap to another location. If you have a live wild dog inside the trap while taking the trap elsewhere, wear heavy leather gloves as it is going to have a serious go at any human within range. Some dogs are bigger than young children who can be targets for wild dogs on the loose. Some feral cats that have been living in the bush for generations and thriving on native animals grow bigger than the previous generation. Some wild cats are as big as medium-size dogs and are just as dangerous, especially when trapped. Never let them go alive either.

For those who cannot shoot on the trapping property, contact your local council Ranger before trapping starts to see if they can put the wild dog down. This can differ from Council to Council. Your odds are better if you tell them the wild dog is in an approved cage trap.

Melted paraffin wax from the hardware store is used in cooking to seal preserves like home-made chutneys from air because this wax has no scent to taint the food. Paraffin wax can be rubbed along the trap door rails and where metal has friction with other metal. This wax assists with the door and locking bar dropping smoothly. Do not use candles for this purpose as they have the man-made chemical smells from their origins as petro-chemicals which are likely to deter wild animals from going near the trap.

To put the trapping odds in your favour, when the trap is set, lightly spray it on all surfaces with a 50 - 50 mix of eucalyptus oil and water. This helps mask the man-made scents from the factory, the couriers who delivered it and anyone else who has handed the trap. Wild animals are already familiar with the smell of eucalyptus. They instinctively treat human scent as something to stay away from and dogs noses are way more sensitive than human noses for picking up scents. After this, handle the trap with chemical-free gloves. When setting traps, wear footwear that has not been worn in workshops, service stations, supermarkets and locations that are loaded with chemicals and humans. Or slosh the soles of your boots through cow or sheep manure before setting the trap.

Some trappers conceal the trap structure by laying bushy branches of local trees along three sides of the trap, not across the entrance, and to also darken the interior. Some wild animals live in dark dens. Avoid placing leafy branches on the trap mechanism. Sand can also be placed on the floor of the trap to prevent the wild dog feeling unnatural metal mesh under its feet. Sand is better than soil which can set like concrete after rain.

Place meat in the bait basket near the back of the trap. Kentucky Fried Chicken has a strong scent on the breeze, as does freshly cooked liver. Keep chunks of meat bait in the freezer for each time you want to bait the trap for the next one. There is always a next one to take over the territory after the previous marking scents left by the trapped wild dog fade away in the weather.

A food scent trail of small meat bits, fish oil or used cooking oil/animal fat can be dribbled out in front of the set trap for a few metres for the wild dog to follow the scent trail in towards the bait. The dog has a go at the meat in the bait holder which activates the trap door behind it.

Naturally suspicious wild dogs, especially experienced adult wild dogs, may wait for some days before they approach a new object in their territory, until they are used to seeing the trap in the same spot and then they expect to see it there as part of their regular environment.

Where there is a permit to shoot, a .22 to the head is a quick and humane death to a wild dog, fox or cat. If an unintended animal is trapped in the cage, such as your own dog or a native animal, it is reversible. Simply lift the locking bar, tilt the trap door up and let it out. Check traps daily to deal with trapped animals.

To save native animals from feral meat-eating predators, this trap can also be used in national parks and areas where shooting is not permitted or practical, including for property owners whose land backs onto national parks which can be safe havens for feral animals.