A new tool to help combat feral wild dogs, an issue threatening Australia's wool industry, is officially being launched on the market this weekend.

Known as PAPP — short for para-amino propiophenone — it is the first new predator toxin in more than 50 years.

The wool industry claims the number-one issue threatening its viability is wild dog attacks, and the situation has reached crisis point.

Australian Wool Innovation's Ian Evans said dog numbers had continued to build up, forcing wool and sheep meat producers out of the industry.

This is despite the best efforts of the National Wild Dog Action Plan, which was launched two years ago to bring different groups together to try to solve the problem.

"We're winning battles, but the war is still a long way from over," Mr Evans said.

The PAPP bait kills dogs much faster than the currently widely used 1080 bait, which has prompted the RSPCA to endorse it is as a more humane option.

Warning: Graphic images below.

"We believe from the available evidence that PAPP is a more humane alternative to 1080, but we are still waiting for a full humaneness assessment to be conducted," RSPCA chief science and strategy officer Dr Bidda Jones said.

Professor Linton Staples, through his Melbourne-based company Animal Control Technologies Australia (ACTA), has spent 11 years developing the new toxin and guiding it through the maze of regulations to have it finally authorised for distribution and sale.

Linton Staples says PAPP is more effective than 1080. ( Landline )

He said foxes and dogs had liver enzymes that converted PAPP to another compound PHAPP (Para hydroxyamino propiophenone) which is taken up by red blood cells and leads to rapid conversion of haemoglobin to methaemogloblin.

"The cause of death is actually lack of oxygen," Professor Staples said.

"The animal just falls down, gets tired, goes to sleep and dies."

Unlike 1080, there is an antidote if a farm or pet dog takes a PAPP bait. However, it only works if it is administered intravenously within half-an hour by a vet.

The PAPP bait development is a joint initiative between ACTA, Australian Wool Innovation and the Federal Government through the Invasive Animals CRC.

Wild dogs often hunt in packs, breaking fence lines and devouring livestock. ( Supplied: Graham Wienert )

How effective will PAPP be?

Professor Stapes said the new bait would not replace 1080, and that he was disappointed the registration conditions of PAPP meant it was restricted as to where and how it could be used.

What are wild dogs? Very few wild dogs are pure-bred dingoes

Very few wild dogs are pure-bred dingoes Substantial DNA testing has shown they are almost all hybrids — domestic, farm and hunting dogs gone wild, that in some cases have bred with dingoes

Substantial DNA testing has shown they are almost all hybrids — domestic, farm and hunting dogs gone wild, that in some cases have bred with dingoes But that is where their similarity to the domestic dog ends — they hunt livestock in packs

"We had hoped it would be a more available tool for use around the peri-urban fringe, but unfortunately the regulatory authorities in reviewing the data have elected to put it into the same restricted framework as 1080," he said.

PAPP is not able to be aerial baited, in part because it also kills goannas.

And, at up to $4 per bait, it is at least three times the price of 1080.

Victorian wool, beef and lamb producer Robert Belcher is one of the farmers who has been hit hard by the scourge of wild dogs.

"I remember one year, out of a mob of 500 merino ewes I had nine lambs to shear," he said.

However, Mr Belcher does not believe the introduction of PAPP bait will fix his predicament.

"Baits don't work on farms where they're killing livestock. They work where there is no livestock and it is an alternative meal. It's very simple," he said

Scourge of wild dogs leaves farmers desperate

Mr Belcher, who regularly shoots wild dogs, said his desperate pleas to the authorities and politicians for more help seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

Tasks like putting down injured cattle and sheep have also taken an emotional toll on Mr Belcher.

"I suppose I am ending up at a numb state where I don't know where to turn," he said.

Mr Belcher and some other farmers have strung up the dogs' bodies to show them for the mongrels they are.

"It's a cultural thing. It's a sign of total frustration with the authorities," he said.

A ewe mauled by a wild dog. ( Supplied: John Ive )

For more on the story of the impact of wild dogs, watch Landline on Sunday at noon on ABC TV.