Updated: 28th April 2026
Sunshine Coast Council’s Autumn 2026 baiting program is underway. For Blackall Range communities, the notification letters have landed, and so has the controversy.
Residents across the Blackall Range have been receiving letters from Sunshine Coast Council (SCC) advising that a wild dog baiting program is taking place near their properties. For many, the notification has raised more questions than it has answered. The Council’s Community Wild Dog Baiting Program runs twice yearly, in Autumn and Spring. The Autumn 2026 program runs from 20 April to 24 May, meaning it is active right now.
What Is a “Wild Dog”?
In Australian law and pest-management policy, “wild dog” is a broad term that covers any dog not under direct human control, including pure dingoes, dingo–domestic hybrids, and escaped or released domestic dogs. On the Blackall Range, most animals in this category are understood to be dingo-dominant hybrids rather than feral domestic dogs.
Some genetic studies from the east coast have found that many animals managed as “wild dogs” carry 90–99% dingo ancestry. The legal classification, however, makes no distinction: under Queensland’s Biosecurity Act 2014, all are restricted invasive animals, and all landholders have a general obligation to manage them.
For a deeper look at what wild dogs actually are, their ecological role in our forests, and the fear and perception issues that shape this debate, see our feature explainer: Wild Dogs, Dingoes and the Blackall Range – What’s Really Out There?
How the Program Works
The program uses meat baits treated with Sodium Fluoroacetate, commonly known as 1080, a restricted pesticide. Council describes it as the most species-specific option available for controlling invasive canids.
Key protocols include:
- All neighbouring properties within 1.5km of a bait site are notified in writing at least 72 hours before the program begins.
- Warning signs are placed on roadsides and along property fence lines and entrances.
- Baits are not placed on public trails, walkways, dog off-leash areas, or roadsides
- Baits must not be placed within 2km of town centres, within 150m of a dwelling, within 50m of a formed public road, within 20m of permanent or flowing waterbodies, or within 5m of fenced property boundaries
A map of participating properties for the Autumn 2026 program should be available on the SCC website.
The Community Response
The arrival of notification letters has prompted strong reactions in affected communities, particularly in semi-rural residential areas such as Montville, Flaxton and surrounds, which sit at the interface of bushland and suburban living.
Some residents are alarmed by what they see as insufficient information. “There’s no indication of which properties near us would have this poison placed,” one resident said. “How do I protect my pets from a bait dropped by a crow into my secured yard?”
That concern about secondary poisoning, where a bird such as a crow or raptor carries a bait away from the placement site, is a recurring theme in community discussion, and one that Council’s written notifications do not directly address.
There are also pointed questions about the Kondalilla and Mapleton forest areas specifically: whether baiting is occurring there now, what the precise exclusion zones are around known walking tracks, and what protections are in place for native goannas and birds of prey.
The Range Community News put these questions directly to SCC this week and is awaiting a response.
The Case for the Program
Wildlife carers working in the region have documented the impact of wild dog attacks on native animals firsthand. Koalas presenting with serious injuries, some not surviving, others leaving dependent joeys requiring months of care, represent a reality that most residents never see. For farmers and small landholders, the risk is direct and economic. A single dog or pack can kill multiple goats, calves or poultry in a single night, a serious loss for small rural operations.
Council’s canid pest ejector program uses spring-activated devices baited with either 1080 or an alternative compound (PAPP), and is subject to a regulatory risk assessment prior to placement on any property.
The Case Against
The first objection is to 1080 itself. Critics argue it is an indiscriminate killer, and not a quick one. Because any animal that ingests the bait suffers the same prolonged consequences regardless of species, concerns about non-target deaths are genuine and not easily dismissed by placement protocols alone. Native goannas, wedge-tailed eagles and other raptors, and domestic pets are all at risk, both from direct bait ingestion and from secondary poisoning when they scavenge or consume contaminated carcasses. 1080 is banned or tightly restricted in most countries. In Australia, it remains routine.
The second objection is to the premise that the animals being targeted are a problem that needs solving at least here, in this landscape, at this scale. Along the forest edges adjacent to Kondalilla National Park, near Baxter Creek Falls, wild dog calls are a regular presence. Residents with bush on their properties have tracked paw prints, heard calls at night, and observed these animals moving through the landscape. Some have done so for years, without incident.
That lived experience sits uneasily alongside a broad baiting program that makes no local distinction between a dingo-dominant animal moving through native forest and a feral dog pack targeting stock on a cleared farming property.
There is also an ecological argument. Research increasingly shows that dingoes and dingo-dominant animals, as apex-type predators, suppress foxes and feral cats, two species that are genuine and documented threats to ground-nesting birds and small native mammals. In a landscape where koala conservation is a stated priority, removing the animal that keeps fox numbers down is not a neutral act. It is possible that the baiting program is, in some parts of our landscape, trading one problem for another.
None of this resolves the legitimate concerns of landholders losing stock. But it does raise a question the program’s current design does not appear to ask: is a response calibrated for broad rural farming country the right tool for the specific ecology, and the specific community, of the Blackall Range?
What Residents Can Do Right Now
- Keep pets secured and supervised, particularly overnight, until 24 May
- Do not allow dogs to roam onto neighbouring rural properties
- If you find a bait, do not handle it, contact Council on 07 5475 7272
- If you suspect your pet has ingested a bait, seek veterinary care immediately, signs can appear within 30–80 minutes and include vomiting, shaking and seizures
Sunshine Coast Regional Council Wild Dog website
Following publication, Sunshine Coast Council provided the following statement.
A Sunshine Coast Council spokesperson said the Community Wild Dog Baiting Program runs in autumn and spring each year, and is provided as a service to property owners to help them meet their General Biosecurity Obligation, a legislated responsibility to manage invasive species on their land.
“All property owners in the program have requested this service to protect people, livestock, wildlife or pets on their property,” the spokesperson said.
On 1080, Council said the compound occurs naturally in some native Australian plants, breaks down quickly, and has a short active time. “Most native animals have a natural resistance to 1080. However, wild dogs and foxes are highly susceptible. For these reasons, 1080 is the standard for wild dog baiting in Australia.”
Range Community News Note: while 1080 does occur naturally in some Australian plants, critics point out that concentrations used in baits are significantly higher than those found in nature. This context is routinely raised in debate about the compound’s safety to non-target species.
Council said further safety measures include burying and tying down baits at the site “to target wild dog-specific behaviour while ensuring the bait is not moved or discovered by non-target species.” Residents can keep pets safe by keeping them contained to their property and on a leash in public areas outside signed off-leash zones.
Council confirmed the autumn program runs on participating rural properties from 20 April to 24 May, with boundary signage on participating properties, written notification to residents within 1.5km of bait sites, and additional roadside signage in baiting areas.
Council Authorised Officers hold qualifications under three nationally recognised training programs, and operate under approvals from Queensland Health under the Medicines and Poisons Act 2019. Council said it complies with all Commonwealth and State legislation relevant to the storage, transport, use and disposal of 1080.
More information is available on Council’s community wild dog baiting program webpage.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy and timeliness, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or availability with respect to the article or the information contained within for any purpose.