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This article was published in 1957
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INSTITUTE OF INSPECTORS OF STOCK OF N.S.W. YEAR BOOK.

The Humane Coyote Getter

ITS USE IN DESTRUCTION OF WILD DOGS (Canis dingo)

D. J. WALKER, B.V.Sc., Veterinary Inspector, Armidale

Early in 1954, the use of this gadget in America came to notice. The Armidale Pastures Protection Board was prevailed upon to import fifty with "scent", which we would refer to as "decoy", and shells. With the accessories these cost approximately £2 each. In mid-June the following year trials were commenced. Literature was promising.

DESCRIPTION OF "GETTER".

It is basically a gun with the shell-holder the length of the shell. It is also a booby trap. A bait, on being pulled upward, operates a trigger mechanism. By exploding gunpowder a lethal charge of cyanide powder is discharged into the mouth of the animal pulling on the bait. Varying with the method of baiting, this is about one and a half inches long and half an inch in diameter. It rests on top of the ground. The method depends not so much on the ingestion of the bait as on the degree of investigation of the bait by the animal.

AREA OF OPERATION

Results convey little without knowledge of degree of infestation. No adequate yard-stick is known for measuring this, but conclusions can be drawn from the following information:—

Over the previous ten years the average annual scalp intake in the 5,600 square miles of infested country, within which the testing area lay, was 0.178 scalps per square mile. The bonus rate was £3 for adults and half price for pups. (It is believed that fraud in relation to scalps is inappreciable). This may be compared with a scalp intake of 0.11 to 0.15 per square mile between Bundaberg and Mackay in Queensland, as reported by Durie and Riek. Game was plentiful in the area of baiting. Dog signs in the form of tracks, scratches and fresh scats were plentiful. The study area is separated from sheep country by a dingo-proof fence, 270 miles long, erected and maintained solely by individual sheepowners, adjoining it on the sheep side.

METHOD OF WORKING

Getters were set beside bush tracks, singly and in groups; and in places which might well be described as "crossroads".

Baiting was with cloth impregnated with James Masts' No. 5 Food Scent, or with a paste of butter and powdered milk, or with crude fish oils or salt brisket fat. The imported food scent was highly decomposed minced fish. The brisket fat was that used in the aerial type baits manufactured by the Tropical Dip and Chemical Co., Rockhamton, Queensland. These were moulded and tied to the shell holder.

Inspection of sets was carried out weekly to monthly.

RESULTS The consolidated result of work in 1955 and 1956 was equivalent to thirteen wild dogs. These were mostly adult. Destruction of a dog was assumed on finding the whole or any part of a carcass. The work effort was equivalent to having fifty guns continually set for thirty-four weeks. First impression of this does not induce optimism.

In addition a total of not less than thirty-six foxes, one marsupial cat and one Alsatian dog (a prohibited animal in the area) were destroyed.

In twelve instances in which shells were exploded, no carcass could be found. Scrub and the operation of eaglehawks may have been responsible for this on occasions. Foxes usually were found within twenty-five yards of the set and dogs within seventy-five yards.

DISCUSSION

It is of importance to take into account that the Board's officer employed in working the Getters was its Rabbit Inspector. He was of the opinion that he would have covered ten times the area and operated ten times the Getters if employed full time on this work without need to account for kills.

It is of special interest to compare his "bag" of thirteen dogs when working at one-tenth of capacity for thirty-four weeks with a "bag" of seventeen dogs secured by five trappers in the equivalent of forty-two weeks full-time employment of one man. They used traps, were recognised as competent and worked in similar country to that in which the Getters were used. Figures of the same order, but showing slightly greater efficiency, are known to have been secured in more recent years.

The following advantages of the Getters are worthy of note:

(a) Their lightness and small size overcame the handicap of size and weight of traps. Scope of operations can thus be extended.

(b) Supervision required after setting is small. Perhaps monthly or bi-monthly checking would be adequate. Except in special circumstances they are unaffected by weather and rarely rendered ineffective except by vermin. The exceptions are that imperfect water-proofing of the shell and its holder rendered the cyanide charge ineffective. Small bush creatures, such as marsupial mice, remove fat baits without operating the firing mechanism. This difficulty would probably be overcome by moving sets to open country; but, of course, birds there may cause trouble. Our work was all in timbered areas.

(c) Operation requires a minimum of skill and bushcraft.

DISADVANTAGES

(1) Cattle were attracted to the baits, at least to the extent that inquisitive cattle could be a nuisance. Our sets were fenced on for safety.

(2) The instrument could be lethal to humans. Our experience indicates that the risk is slight, and that accident would be the result of gross carelessness. Effects of misuse do not justify prohibition of use.

(3) The firing mechanism and shell-holder are of die-cast metal, and could be melted by light grass-fire.

SEASONAL TAKE OF BAITS

Between June 15 and August 15, fourteen baits were lifted. Between August 16 and October 19, only three. In the first period baits of carrion type were taken; these were refused in the spring months. Young states that "coyotes eat twice as much carrion in winter as in summer", and that "rabbits took first place in the diet at all times except mid-winter, when they were outranked by carrion". Our observation is interpreted as indicating that we also are confronted in our carnivorous population with marked seasonal food preferences. Support is added also to the frequently-expressed opinion that winter is the best time for trapping. Perhaps this opinion is correct; the reason not necessarily that the bait stays fresh longer, but that the food preference alters.

Contrary to expectations, ants did not prove to be any worry.

CONCLUSION

As a result of limited use of the Getter, the conclusion has been reached that we have a means of testing the relative attractiveness of bait materials and seasonal food preferences, if such occur.

There are definite indications that in terms of dead-dog per man-hour the Getter, as used in destruction of dingoes, has substantial advantages over the steel trap. Even though the countrivance may not produce a scalp (with bonus attached) as efficiently as conventional trapping, its use may have an appeal to landholders of which we are yet unaware. The main handicap to its wider adoption is that it cannot be purchased in this country.

Our observations indicate the scale of operatons which may be necessary to obtain statistically significant results in any future trials.

Finally there is little doubt that there is still much to learn concerning the most effective method of using and baiting the Coyote Getter.

TABLE DETAILING WORK AND RESULTS

No. 1 SITE - NOWENDOC

Getters	Bait	Dogs	Foxes	Days set	Patrols
18	No. 5 Food Scent	3	8	125	9
18	Butter and P. Milk	-	3	64	4 (1 marsupial cat)
	Total	3	11	189	13

Established, 15th June, 1955; abandoned, 20th December. 1955.
Sex, 1 Black Bitch and 1 Male; 1 indefinite.
Two exploded guns; unable to discover carcase.

No. 2 SITE - "MT. CARRINGTON", NOWENDOC

Getters	Bait	Dogs	Foxes	Days set	Patrols
12	No. 5 Food Scent	-	4	135	6
12	Butter and P. Milk	3	3	33	1 (1 Alsatian dog)
	Total	3	7	168	7

Established, 22nd June, 1955; abandoned, 6th December, 1955.
Sex and age of dogs indefinite.
Four exploded guns; unable to locate carcase.

No. 3 SITE - "SPIKE ISLAND", WOOLOMOMBI

Getters	Bait	Dogs	Foxes	Days set	Patrols
20	No. 5 Food Scent	1	6	48	2

Established, 29th June, 1955; abandoned, August, 1955.
Sex (of dog); Bitch, aged.

No. 4 SITE - "WILD CATTLE CREEK". NOWENDOC

Getters	Bait	Dogs	Foxes	Days set	Patrols
16	No. 5 and Crude Oils	2	3	74	8
16	No. 5 and Crude Oils	2	-	66	2
	Total	4	3	140	10

Established, 23rd August, 1955; abandoned, 9th January, 1956.
Sex: 3 bitches, 1 indefinite.
Six exploded guns; unable to discover carcass.

TRIAL IN 1956 AT "MT. CARRINGTON", NOWENDOC

Getters	Bait	Dogs	Foxes	Days set	Patrols
35	Salted Brisket Fat	2	1	50	10
35	Butter and Milk Powdered	-	8	43	6
	Total	2	9	93	16

Sex: 1 Black, sex not ascertained.
1 Yellow bitch, 3 or 4 years old.

When Queensland Brisket Fat was used as bait, dog signs were noticed readily throughout the entire length of trails. When butter and powdered milk was used, dog signs were extremely limited and presence of wallaroos and wallabies at this time indicated that dogs may have moved from the area.

During the last fourteen days, Getters were unattended and all were either chewed at or stripped of bait.

The trial using Brisket Fat commenced on 17/4/56 and terminated on 6/6/56; using butter and powdered milk commenced 7/6/56, terminated 19/7/56.

References:

Durie, H. P. & Riek, R. F. (1952)-Aust. Vet. J., 28:253.

Young, S. P. and Jackson, H. H. T. (1951)-"The Clever Coyote (Part 1)", The Stackpole Company, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and The Wildlife Management Institute, Washington, D.C., pp. 127 and 129.