❓ Hon Robyn McSweeney asks about the frequency of aerial baiting programs, suggesting it has been halved. Hon Kim Chance acknowledges a potential reduction due to kangaroo shortages for bait production and discusses alternative baiting methods using 'salami baits'.
AnsweredQoN 112Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
Has the frequency of the aerial baiting program been halved to only once a year? I believe the current baiting program has just finished and another one will not commence until winter 2006. Is that correct? Hon KIM CHANCE
AnswerView source ↗
I am not aware of whether the aerial baiting program has been reduced to once a year. It is possible, however, that that is the case, because the aerial baiting program for wild dogs has been hampered to a degree by a shortage of material for the manufacture of the kind of dry bait that is used for that purpose. That has been caused by a number of factors, principally a shortage of kangaroos, not because of any failure on the part of the Department of Conservation and Land Management to issue permits to shoot kangaroos, but because there is now strong competition from the human consumption sector for kangaroo meat. I believe that is something we should be celebrating, because it is a much higher-value use of kangaroo meat than making baits out of it. The practice of making baits from kangaroo meat is an inefficient and wasteful process. Although it has served us well in the past, the nature of a dry meat bait is that it must be made from a single muscle group, so the amount of bait that is actually yielded from even quite a large kangaroo is tiny in comparison with the total live weight of the animal. Both the Department of Agriculture and CALM are now working jointly on carrying forward a CALM-developed process for what is called the salami bait. The advantage of the salami bait is that it does not smell as bad as the dry meat bait and people are more prepared to be careful and selective about its placement, particularly on-ground placement as opposed to just aerial placement. It also can be manufactured from a much wider range of meat materials, including scrubber bulls and other animals that otherwise would not have an economic use. I am hopeful that during this year that program will come to conclusion. The technology that CALM has pioneered is being added to by the Department of Agriculture. CALM pioneered the salami bait process specifically for fox baiting, but the Department of Agriculture has taken that a little further to enable the technology to be used for dog baiting. Yes, we do have a problem in accessing sufficient kangaroo meat for dry baits, and that is possibly a reason for a reduction in the baiting program. However, we are hopeful that we have found a solution that will be even more effective.
Hon KIM CHANCE replied: I am not aware of whether the aerial baiting program has been reduced to once a year. It is possible, however, that that is the case, because the aerial baiting program for wild dogs has been hampered to a degree by a shortage of material for the manufacture of the kind of dry bait that is used for that purpose. That has been caused by a number of factors, principally a shortage of kangaroos, not because of any failure on the part of the Department of Conservation and Land Management to issue permits to shoot kangaroos, but because there is now strong competition from the human consumption sector for kangaroo meat. I believe that is something we should be celebrating, because it is a much higher-value use of kangaroo meat than making baits out of it. The practice of making baits from kangaroo meat is an inefficient and wasteful process. Although it has served us well in the past, the nature of a dry meat bait is that it must be made from a single muscle group, so the amount of bait that is actually yielded from even quite a large kangaroo is tiny in comparison with the total live weight of the animal. Both the Department of Agriculture and CALM are now working jointly on carrying forward a CALM-developed process for what is called the salami bait. The advantage of the salami bait is that it does not smell as bad as the dry meat bait and people are more prepared to be careful and selective about its placement, particularly on-ground placement as opposed to just aerial placement. It also can be manufactured from a much wider range of meat materials, including scrubber bulls and other animals that otherwise would not have an economic use. I am hopeful that during this year that program will come to conclusion. The technology that CALM has pioneered is being added to by the Department of Agriculture. CALM pioneered the salami bait process specifically for fox baiting, but the Department of Agriculture has taken that a little further to enable the technology to be used for dog baiting. Yes, we do have a problem in accessing sufficient kangaroo meat for dry baits, and that is possibly a reason for a reduction in the baiting program. However, we are hopeful that we have found a solution that will be even more effective.
I am not aware of whether the aerial baiting program has been reduced to once a year. It is possible, however, that that is the case, because the aerial baiting program for wild dogs has been hampered to a degree by a shortage of material for the manufacture of the kind of dry bait that is used for that purpose. That has been caused by a number of factors, principally a shortage of kangaroos, not because of any failure on the part of the Department of Conservation and Land Management to issue permits to shoot kangaroos, but because there is now strong competition from the human consumption sector for kangaroo meat. I believe that is something we should be celebrating, because it is a much higher-value use of kangaroo meat than making baits out of it. The practice of making baits from kangaroo meat is an inefficient and wasteful process. Although it has served us well in the past, the nature of a dry meat bait is that it must be made from a single muscle group, so the amount of bait that is actually yielded from even quite a large kangaroo is tiny in comparison with the total live weight of the animal. Both the Department of Agriculture and CALM are now working jointly on carrying forward a CALM-developed process for what is called the salami bait. The advantage of the salami bait is that it does not smell as bad as the dry meat bait and people are more prepared to be careful and selective about its placement, particularly on-ground placement as opposed to just aerial placement. It also can be manufactured from a much wider range of meat materials, including scrubber bulls and other animals that otherwise would not have an economic use. I am hopeful that during this year that program will come to conclusion. The technology that CALM has pioneered is being added to by the Department of Agriculture. CALM pioneered the salami bait process specifically for fox baiting, but the Department of Agriculture has taken that a little further to enable the technology to be used for dog baiting. Yes, we do have a problem in accessing sufficient kangaroo meat for dry baits, and that is possibly a reason for a reduction in the baiting program. However, we are hopeful that we have found a solution that will be even more effective.
Hon KIM CHANCE replied: I am not aware of whether the aerial baiting program has been reduced to once a year. It is possible, however, that that is the case, because the aerial baiting program for wild dogs has been hampered to a degree by a shortage of material for the manufacture of the kind of dry bait that is used for that purpose. That has been caused by a number of factors, principally a shortage of kangaroos, not because of any failure on the part of the Department of Conservation and Land Management to issue permits to shoot kangaroos, but because there is now strong competition from the human consumption sector for kangaroo meat. I believe that is something we should be celebrating, because it is a much higher-value use of kangaroo meat than making baits out of it. The practice of making baits from kangaroo meat is an inefficient and wasteful process. Although it has served us well in the past, the nature of a dry meat bait is that it must be made from a single muscle group, so the amount of bait that is actually yielded from even quite a large kangaroo is tiny in comparison with the total live weight of the animal. Both the Department of Agriculture and CALM are now working jointly on carrying forward a CALM-developed process for what is called the salami bait. The advantage of the salami bait is that it does not smell as bad as the dry meat bait and people are more prepared to be careful and selective about its placement, particularly on-ground placement as opposed to just aerial placement. It also can be manufactured from a much wider range of meat materials, including scrubber bulls and other animals that otherwise would not have an economic use. I am hopeful that during this year that program will come to conclusion. The technology that CALM has pioneered is being added to by the Department of Agriculture. CALM pioneered the salami bait process specifically for fox baiting, but the Department of Agriculture has taken that a little further to enable the technology to be used for dog baiting. Yes, we do have a problem in accessing sufficient kangaroo meat for dry baits, and that is possibly a reason for a reduction in the baiting program. However, we are hopeful that we have found a solution that will be even more effective.
I am not aware of whether the aerial baiting program has been reduced to once a year. It is possible, however, that that is the case, because the aerial baiting program for wild dogs has been hampered to a degree by a shortage of material for the manufacture of the kind of dry bait that is used for that purpose. That has been caused by a number of factors, principally a shortage of kangaroos, not because of any failure on the part of the Department of Conservation and Land Management to issue permits to shoot kangaroos, but because there is now strong competition from the human consumption sector for kangaroo meat. I believe that is something we should be celebrating, because it is a much higher-value use of kangaroo meat than making baits out of it. The practice of making baits from kangaroo meat is an inefficient and wasteful process. Although it has served us well in the past, the nature of a dry meat bait is that it must be made from a single muscle group, so the amount of bait that is actually yielded from even quite a large kangaroo is tiny in comparison with the total live weight of the animal. Both the Department of Agriculture and CALM are now working jointly on carrying forward a CALM-developed process for what is called the salami bait. The advantage of the salami bait is that it does not smell as bad as the dry meat bait and people are more prepared to be careful and selective about its placement, particularly on-ground placement as opposed to just aerial placement. It also can be manufactured from a much wider range of meat materials, including scrubber bulls and other animals that otherwise would not have an economic use. I am hopeful that during this year that program will come to conclusion. The technology that CALM has pioneered is being added to by the Department of Agriculture. CALM pioneered the salami bait process specifically for fox baiting, but the Department of Agriculture has taken that a little further to enable the technology to be used for dog baiting. Yes, we do have a problem in accessing sufficient kangaroo meat for dry baits, and that is possibly a reason for a reduction in the baiting program. However, we are hopeful that we have found a solution that will be even more effective.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.