There has been progress with controlling wild dogs across New South Wales at a time when the feral pests have been costing Australian agriculture almost $90 million each year.

NSW Opposition frontbencher Clayton Barr had become increasingly alarmed about the situation and asked the Government for specific details regarding the locations wild dogs were roaming and the damage they were causing to stock.

Warning: This story contains images that some readers may find distressing.

Mr Barr said his questions were as a result of increased dog attacks.

"These dogs do hunt in packs, so they are getting around in numbers and they are working together and they are quite terrifying to come across," he said.

"They are terrifying. If you don't have protections around you, for example you are not sitting in your car they are very, very threatening."

Dog dubbed Hannibal Lecter

Hunter Valley farmer Norm Black is still traumatised a year after a dog dubbed Hannibal Lecter was trapped and killed after eluding trappers for six years.

The name is a reference to the serial killer character made famous in the 1991 film, Silence of the Lambs.

"He took 630 sheep, and mostly they were wethers, and he really only took the kidneys," Mr Black said.

The wild dog known as Hannibal Lecter is blamed for the deaths of more than 600 sheep on one property alone over six years. ( Supplied: Hunter Local Land services )

Mr Black said he engaged a trapper and a shooter to get the dog.

"He was a very cunning dog," he said.

"He mainly kept other dogs away from the area and we were the only ones in the area who seemed to have the trouble," he said.

The trapper and shooter struck after fires in the Upper Hunter last year were blamed for impacting the dog's scents and disorienting it.

"We got terrific smoke from here and he said it seemed the dog didn't have his scent anymore," Mr Black said.

"He had the smoke in his nostrils and that is how he shot him."

Mr Black said since then trappers had made a major dent in local dog numbers.

Wild dogs are responsible for mauling and killing livestock across the Hunter Valley region. ( Supplied: Ken Wright )

New wild dog strategy

Luke Booth is the leader of the Invasive Species and Plant Health team for Hunter Local Land Services and said trappers were engaged through a professional wild dog control program.

"The program we have has been in place for about eight months now," he said.

"We have employed some professional wild dog controllers to actively control dogs in the Upper Hunter and we are up to nearly 100 dogs [caught]."

"They have been not just wild dogs but they have been problem dogs that haven't been able to be controlled by other means."

Mr Booth said wild dog control was a team effort and all landholders needed to play a role.

"Statewide the Hunter has released its regional pest management plan and wild dogs were actively noted as the top priority," he said.

"That plan had several major stakeholders from all different agencies, both private and public."

The multi-pronged approach has been implemented in the Hunter before following reports coal miners were being approached by aggressive dogs at work.

The Singleton Army Base has also been recognised as a wild dog hot spot, with two orphaned brumby foals bearing dog bite marks rescued by the school of infantry earlier this month.

The orphaned brumby Tigerlily was rescued from the Singleton Army Base after being attacked by wild dogs. ( Supplied:Hunter Valley Brumby Association. )

Government acknowledgement

The NSW Government has responded to questioning from Labor about wild dog numbers.

Primary Industries Minister, Niall Blair, said the dogs were problematic across the state and were present across the Hunter region.

"Hunter Regional Strategic Pest Animal Plan reported wild dogs being considered endemic throughout the Hunter, with the Cessnock electorate having a medium-level presence," Mr Blair said.

"Wild dogs can have a home range from 400 hectares to 100,000ha and it makes it difficult to accurately estimate wild dog populations in any given area," he said.

Mr Barr said the large areas where the dogs roamed was a concern.

"Like a lot of these pest species getting to these animals in the enormous State Forest and National Parks areas around the Hunter Valley is a challenge," Mr Barr said.

"Economically these wild dogs are having a significant impact for our farmers."

Data on the toll that wild dogs have on Australian agriculture highlights a major issue.

The NSW Natural Resource Commission released a report on the impact of the pest animals in October last year, with wild dogs estimated to cost agriculture $89 million a year.

In 2009 predation by wild dogs was declared a key threatening process in NSW.