"The dingo isnt native to Australia and only arrived here 3,500-4,500 years ago It is just a mongrel dog from Asia and we should just kill the wholebloody lot." I often hear and read this stance used as an argument as to why the dingo should have no place here on Australian shores and should in fact be kept on the vermin list. It is very effective in convincing the average person that this animal is feral and non native to Australia and so should be classified in the newly arrived feral category such as the fox, the cat and the rabbit.
It is used time and time again in the belief that it will help their cause to eradicate this ecologically important animal and many do actually accept this without putting too much thought into just how long 4,000 years really is in the timeline. Let me help put this into perspective for you and lets take a brief look at history.
We will start at approximately 4,000 years ago when the dingo was thought to have first arrived on our shores:·
The Sumerians were still in existence, although about to disappear as recognisable people after being over run by the Amorites.·
Babylon existed and was heavily into agriculture·
Troy was also in existence.·
The Sahara desert was still fertile and green.·
The wheel was just being introduced, especially on the Egyptianchariots. ·
Although metal was being introduced for tools in certain circles andareas, the average person was still using stone tools.
During the dingo's first 1,000 years here in Australia, great names such as Confucius, King Solomon, Homer, Pythagoras, Ramses II were living out theirlives around the world. During the next thousand years the likes ofSocrates and Plato and Alexander the Great were now living out their livestoo.The dingo had already been in Australia approx 1,500-2,000 years when Stonehenge was being built in the UK, when Sparta (yes that nation that wasfeatured in the movie 300) were still strong and the Roman Empire wascontemplating expansion.
I could point out many more events that give you an idea of just how longthe dingo really has been Australian, but I think you will be starting tounderstand the reality of how ludicrous this Onon-native¹ argument is bynow. These animals have been on our shores a long time and have certainlyhad plenty of time to adapt and become an integral part of the ecosystem. Studies show that they keep the ecosystem healthy and to lose our apexpredator would impact greatly on this fragile land.
Some elements of the farming community will also have us believe that these dingoes are responsible for the 20 native species of fauna that havedisappeared off our shores over the last 200 years or so. They would have you believe that the dingo is munching it's way relentlessly through our wildlife and so is a scourge to the nation. The question I would be asking these people is how come this has only become a major problem in the last 200 years or so and not for the prior 4,000 years before that?
Why is itthat this appalling extinction rate seems to coincide with the arrival ofwhite Europeans to this shore, who brought with them European farmingpractices which were never sustainable or suitable for such an ancient andfragile continent.I will finish with one more important event to remember to bring things into true perspective, our dingo had already been trotting round andadapting to our Australian bush for approx 2,000 years before the most famous name known to the western world was born in Bethlehem.
Yes... our dingo was well established here in our eco system when Jesus Christ was born and true Christianity as we know it began. Surely after all this time, the dingo has earned a title of Australian Native and not the 'feral pest' that it has at the moment. Maybe instead of driving yet another mammalian species into extinction, we should be finding a middle ground with the agricultural industry and the environmentalists and put these wrongs right and save this magnificent species before all we are left with are photos and the condemnation of future generations. * by Alison Oborn, source unknown.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Saving Fraser dingoes of 'international significance'
Protection call: A Fraser Island dingo (AAP: Jim Shrimpton) Groups concerned about Fraser Island's dingo management will today give a list of demands to the Queensland Government. The groups include the National Dingo Preservation and Recovery Program (NDPRP), the Humane Society International and the Gubbi Gubbi Indigenous people. They say the Fraser Island dingoes in the state's south-east are a conservation asset of international significance. NDPRP president Dr Ian Gunn says the dingoes are at risk of disappearing because of current management practices.
"Do we really want to see the dingo go the same way as the tasmanian tiger did and [be] shot out or culled out?" he said. "You do need to maintain areas of population that we've got now, even though they are fragmented." He says dingoes considered a risk to tourists should be relocated to wildlife reserves in western Queensland rather than be killed. "These properties I'm talking about, bound on the Simpson Desert area - they're huge areas of land were a lot of marsupials are," Dr Gunn said. "There's a great need to control the foxes and cats in those areas and the dingo has been shown to be the ideal animal to do that." * Ourbrisbane.com
"Do we really want to see the dingo go the same way as the tasmanian tiger did and [be] shot out or culled out?" he said. "You do need to maintain areas of population that we've got now, even though they are fragmented." He says dingoes considered a risk to tourists should be relocated to wildlife reserves in western Queensland rather than be killed. "These properties I'm talking about, bound on the Simpson Desert area - they're huge areas of land were a lot of marsupials are," Dr Gunn said. "There's a great need to control the foxes and cats in those areas and the dingo has been shown to be the ideal animal to do that." * Ourbrisbane.com
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Dingoes help Survival of Small Animals!
New research shows small native animals in the Northern Territory seem to benefit from the presence of dingoes. Dr Mike Letnic from the University of Sydney has studied areas in central Australia on either side of a dingo fence. He found that rather than reducing the numbers of small native animals, dingoes seem to encourage them to flourish because dingoes suppress predators such as foxes. "The Territory mainly consists of Aboriginal land and cattle grazing areas," he said. "And in these areas dingoes are quite common. This is probably why the ecosystems of the Territory are relatively healthy. They have lots of native animals when compared to the sheep grazing country in South Australia and New South Wales." *ABC
My Golden Friends, By Lily Bastin, Written in 1994.
Roughly 28 years ago saw the beginning of my love for the dingo of Fraser Island. Being a very keen fisherwoman, the dingoes were always close by hoping to be fed a meal of fresh fish, which they loved. If you were too mean to feed them a few fish, they would help themselves from your catch in the bucket. I for one never minded, as there was plenty of fish to be caught in those days, and naturally the dingo still hangs around the beach looking for handouts.
The first dingo to attach itself to me personally was a young female. She just arrived from the bush, sat about at a distance watching me making a garden and coming closer all the time. Eventually she followed me from place to place in the garden. She was a loner and we became fast friends. All she wanted was company, and I didnt feed her in those days. There was plenty of feed for the dingoes, and not many tourists. I dubbed her Sally. Even when I was off the island she must have remained near home because when I came home to the island, in no time at all Sally would arrive, much to my joy. Then one day disaster struck. A young neighbour came to me to tell me Sally was lying dead on the beach. Much to my sorrow she had been deliberately run over by a 4 wheel drive, which the tourists and residents did quite often in those days. Its hard to imagine that people do these things to Gods creatures.
I didnt become attached to one particular dingo for a few years after that, and then a male made himself at home at my place. He never allowed any dingoes who came with him to stay. This went on for years until he became an old dog, mainly through fights by the look of him, and one day I saw him chased out of the Valley through my place by one of his sons and I never saw that old fellow Ding No. 1 again.
Then we had Ding's son taking over the Valley, so I just called him the same, Ding, which was just short for dingo, and he was with us for about 14 years. Now we had our new Ding, and very handsome he was, and it was only a short time later he brought his mate with him and our young lady dingo was in pup. They would lay around on the hillside of home resting, and even then Im sure they knew they were safe wherever I was. And the same applies to this very day since inside or near my home they must know they are away from harm.
There was so much feed for them then, the cattle (which National Parks eventually destroyed) and they also had the wild horses (brumbies), another food supply, and National Parks destroyed those also. Then they closed the tips, and removed almost the last food supply for the dingoes. Despite all this, Ding and Lady, as we called her (after all it was his lady dingo) had their pups each year. Hardly any survived, because the residents and visitors would shoot them, as so many seem to hate dingoes, especially if they come from the land. (farmers etc). I could never understand why they had to destroy our beautiful dingoes. Ah! what wonderful sport for our human males to destroy, maim and kill.
Ding and Lady were never any trouble to anyone, nor did they harm anyone, and gradually as their food supply went, so some of us in the Valley began to feed them any scraps we had, and Ding and Lady started bringing their family along. It was wonderful to watch. The mother, Lady, would go to the food and eat. She would allow her mate to eat with her or in turn he would sometimes allow her to eat with him, but the young ones dare not approach the bowl. When the parents left the food, the young ones ate.
Lady was always a sweetie, she would arrive at home near the door giving a yappy bark until I went out to talk to her and she would like very much to get a sweet biscuit. She would stay there licking my hand and arm as though saying, may I have a sweet biscuit. Give her even one and away she would go. How we loved that Lady. Ding would sit further away and watch all this, but he never went near a human being.
This pair of dingoes carried on in this fashion all over the years. Lady and Ding would go walkabout, I suppose to hunt. They would take all their young family with them miles and miles into the rainforest. They might be gone 3 or 4 days, but they always came home to the Valley. After each Christmas the numbers in the family were always down to Ding, Lady and two or three of the offspring. You would report hearing shots to National Parks, and you would know you would be down a dingo. Because no-one could be caught or blamed, it still goes on. In November 1993 we lost our Lady. She is now dead and we do not know how. When I questioned National Park rangers, they merely said she must have got sick and died. She was perfectly healthy.
Now Ding only had orphans left in the family, which he took under his fatherly care. He took them with him on walks. As he got older, he became a very beaten-up old man who got very tired. He looked after his family until early this year (1994) when he was caught in a dingo trap, as was one of the young ones, and shot by National Parks, on orders from the Minister of the Environment. So ends the lives of our Lady, about 12 years old, and Ding, who was then about 14 years old.
We are now treasuring the only one son of Lady and Ding called Hoppy, who hops along because of a bullet wound, and who is grandson of the old pair Handsome, and my dear golden girl I called Miss Pretty, who is the granddaughter of our dear Lady and Ding. Also Little Orphan Annie, named because she was orphaned when her parents were shot.
Lily wrote this sad story in 1994. By 1998 when Lily was forced to leave the Island due to ill health, all of her beloved dingoes had been killed by the Queenland National Parks and Wildlife Service. When we last heard from Lily, she was over 80 years old and lived on the mainland, and was still campaigning for the protection of The Fraser Island dingoes.
The first dingo to attach itself to me personally was a young female. She just arrived from the bush, sat about at a distance watching me making a garden and coming closer all the time. Eventually she followed me from place to place in the garden. She was a loner and we became fast friends. All she wanted was company, and I didnt feed her in those days. There was plenty of feed for the dingoes, and not many tourists. I dubbed her Sally. Even when I was off the island she must have remained near home because when I came home to the island, in no time at all Sally would arrive, much to my joy. Then one day disaster struck. A young neighbour came to me to tell me Sally was lying dead on the beach. Much to my sorrow she had been deliberately run over by a 4 wheel drive, which the tourists and residents did quite often in those days. Its hard to imagine that people do these things to Gods creatures.
I didnt become attached to one particular dingo for a few years after that, and then a male made himself at home at my place. He never allowed any dingoes who came with him to stay. This went on for years until he became an old dog, mainly through fights by the look of him, and one day I saw him chased out of the Valley through my place by one of his sons and I never saw that old fellow Ding No. 1 again.
Then we had Ding's son taking over the Valley, so I just called him the same, Ding, which was just short for dingo, and he was with us for about 14 years. Now we had our new Ding, and very handsome he was, and it was only a short time later he brought his mate with him and our young lady dingo was in pup. They would lay around on the hillside of home resting, and even then Im sure they knew they were safe wherever I was. And the same applies to this very day since inside or near my home they must know they are away from harm.
There was so much feed for them then, the cattle (which National Parks eventually destroyed) and they also had the wild horses (brumbies), another food supply, and National Parks destroyed those also. Then they closed the tips, and removed almost the last food supply for the dingoes. Despite all this, Ding and Lady, as we called her (after all it was his lady dingo) had their pups each year. Hardly any survived, because the residents and visitors would shoot them, as so many seem to hate dingoes, especially if they come from the land. (farmers etc). I could never understand why they had to destroy our beautiful dingoes. Ah! what wonderful sport for our human males to destroy, maim and kill.
Ding and Lady were never any trouble to anyone, nor did they harm anyone, and gradually as their food supply went, so some of us in the Valley began to feed them any scraps we had, and Ding and Lady started bringing their family along. It was wonderful to watch. The mother, Lady, would go to the food and eat. She would allow her mate to eat with her or in turn he would sometimes allow her to eat with him, but the young ones dare not approach the bowl. When the parents left the food, the young ones ate.
Lady was always a sweetie, she would arrive at home near the door giving a yappy bark until I went out to talk to her and she would like very much to get a sweet biscuit. She would stay there licking my hand and arm as though saying, may I have a sweet biscuit. Give her even one and away she would go. How we loved that Lady. Ding would sit further away and watch all this, but he never went near a human being.
This pair of dingoes carried on in this fashion all over the years. Lady and Ding would go walkabout, I suppose to hunt. They would take all their young family with them miles and miles into the rainforest. They might be gone 3 or 4 days, but they always came home to the Valley. After each Christmas the numbers in the family were always down to Ding, Lady and two or three of the offspring. You would report hearing shots to National Parks, and you would know you would be down a dingo. Because no-one could be caught or blamed, it still goes on. In November 1993 we lost our Lady. She is now dead and we do not know how. When I questioned National Park rangers, they merely said she must have got sick and died. She was perfectly healthy.
Now Ding only had orphans left in the family, which he took under his fatherly care. He took them with him on walks. As he got older, he became a very beaten-up old man who got very tired. He looked after his family until early this year (1994) when he was caught in a dingo trap, as was one of the young ones, and shot by National Parks, on orders from the Minister of the Environment. So ends the lives of our Lady, about 12 years old, and Ding, who was then about 14 years old.
We are now treasuring the only one son of Lady and Ding called Hoppy, who hops along because of a bullet wound, and who is grandson of the old pair Handsome, and my dear golden girl I called Miss Pretty, who is the granddaughter of our dear Lady and Ding. Also Little Orphan Annie, named because she was orphaned when her parents were shot.
Lily wrote this sad story in 1994. By 1998 when Lily was forced to leave the Island due to ill health, all of her beloved dingoes had been killed by the Queenland National Parks and Wildlife Service. When we last heard from Lily, she was over 80 years old and lived on the mainland, and was still campaigning for the protection of The Fraser Island dingoes.
The Sad story of the Fraser Island Dingoes!
In 1989 almost all of Fraser Island was declared a National Park. The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service took over the management of Fraser Island from the Forestry. The first thing they did was kill or remove all the wild brumbies and cattle on the Island. The cruelty involved in that exercise is a story in itself. Then they closed all the tips, and stopped fishermen from leaving fish scraps on the beach for the dingoes. Dingo numbers at this time were thought to be around 300, although there has never been a scientific count. Within a year or so, the dingoes had eaten most of the natural wildlife and were starving.
The first ever recorded case of harassment of campers for food occurred in 1990. In 1994-5, after more harassment of campers, QPWS decided to kill a few dingoes. They are thought to have killed about 50. Of course, they shot the harmless and easily found animals that were being fed by residents and resort staff. Dingo clans were fractured, young dogs were left without parents to teach them, alpha males and females were killed. 47 dingo skulls later turned up at the Queensland Museum. The remaining dingoes were still starving, and the harassment of campers continued. In 1997 the QPWS produced their Fraser Island Draft Dingo Management Strategy. It was an awful document, and recommended using electric cattle prods, non-lethal poison baits to discourage them from eating human food, shooting dingoes with rubber bullets, and more killing. Giving them poison baits to make them sick had already been trialled in 1996 by QPWS. Letters sent to the RSPCA in 1997 about the cruelty involved in this baiting, still remain unanswered.
The Plan still didn’t address the real issue, how to provide food for the starving dogs. Most groups rejected it out of hand. This draft plan sat in limbo for nearly three years, and the 37 submissions to the plan were ignored. Several letters to the relevant Minister about the status of the Draft produced no response. Harassment of campers continued. In June, 2001, in the first ever confirmed dingo fatality in Australia, the tragic death of a child on Fraser Island dominated the world media.
Overriding any consultation or management processes that were under way, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie immediately ordered a dingo kill. I was in Brisbane, and tried to get a meeting with the Environment Minister, but he had locked himself in his room and wouldn’t come out. Indigenous groups and the Wilderness Society went to Court to gain an injunction to stop the kill. They failed, because they never had enough time to present a substantial case, and the Judge ordered that no more that 30 dingos be killed, (based on erroneous media reports that there were 200 resident dingoes) and the kill must stop by Saturday evening, regardless. 28 of the native dogs were shot, brutally and unnecessarily. Allegations of cruelty have been made, but the RSPCA, who have just received a $250,000 grant from the Government, have not taken any action. Fortunately, some residents moved some younger dogs out of harms way.
Because the Government had an urgency to kill as many as possible before the deadline, and to shift the blame for this fatality from themselves to the dingoes, again the easily accessible dogs were killed first. These included the many dingoes that lay around doing no harm to anyone. The Eurong group, and the clan of beautiful golden dogs, which lived around the Orchid beach servo and store, were killed. These animals lived around the servo, never worrying anyone, and were a constant source of delight to tourists and visitors to the northern part of the Island. Some of the indigenous owners of the Island sent the Premier a bill for $1500 dollars compensation per dog. They also started to build a fence around a camping area near Dilli Village, as a gesture to keep people away from the dingoes.
So then the inevitable happened again. Within a few days, other dogs moved in to take their place, and one camping area had to be closed, because they were not allowed, under the court decision, to kill any more. The figure of 200 dingoes on the Island is a guesstimate by QPWS that was cited in the three years old Draft Dingo Management Plan that was roundly criticised by most parties. Our information, based on reports from residents and visitors, and our own experiences on the Island, is that there currently may only be between 50 an 80 dingoes left on the Island, before the latest kill. There still hasn’t been an accurate scientific survey done on the dingo population.
For three days, the 16th, 17th, and 18th May 2001 I again visited Fraser Island with Sue Arnold, coordinator of Australians for Animals. During our stay I spoke to many people, tourists, residents, workers at the resorts, and campers about dingoes. Everyone I spoke to was appalled at the recent dingo cull. Many locals where afraid that the QPWS would start dropping poison baits. In spite of QPWS stating many times in the past that that they do not use 1080 in or around National Parks, in a story in the Courier Mail 22nd May, they admit that they do. While on the Island, I helped the indigenous people to feed the dingoes fish, and assisted in setting up a regular feeding program with the aboriginal people. The purpose was to attempt to keep the dingoes inland, and away from the guns of the Queensland government.
In the Fraser Is. community there was a strong feeling of disgust and anger, not only that the kill occurred, but in the cruel manner in which the dingoes were killed. A .22 rifle was used, and this is easily verified by looking at media photos of the shooting. A .22 calibre rifle is totally inappropriate for this type of killing. These rifles are used for rabbits, and should never have been used on a larger animal. According to many residents, at least 4 animals were wounded, and escaped into the bush. One later bled to death in Central Station Ck. One absolutely harmless dog lived around a resort many, many miles away from the site of the recent fatality. “Socks” would occasionally jump in the pool for a swim, then lie in the sun in front of the pub to dry out.
Socks was shot but not killed, and returned to the resort 2 days later with a bullet hole in her face. QPWS had to come back and kill her. Tourists, staff, and guests loved this harmless animal, which was brutally killed by QPWS rangers on the orders of Premier Peter Beattie. Several locals told me they believe over 40 dingoes have been killed. We were also told that some QPWS rangers are in stress because of the massacre, and are being counselled.
Many “solutions” have been tendered by many so-called experts, including tourists carrying stones to throw at the dingoes, or sticks to threaten them with. Some have suggested heavy fines for feeding dingoes, not understanding that these are not lions or tigers, they are dogs, and there are few people who will not feed a hungry dog. The bottom line is that these animals are starving, and unless they are fed with a properly structured and authorised feeding program, they will continue to be a problem and another person may die.
The Fraser Island dingoes are the last almost purebred dingoes left anywhere in the World. Their already slim genetic strength has been decimated, in an act of sheer revenge, to satisfy the bloodlust of a dictatorial Premier, who seems to have lost his marbles. Like most Australians I was saddened and sickened by the unwarranted massacre of the Fraser Island dingoes.
Currently the Government is undertaking a “risk management strategy” which is being compiled by the same people, and the same agencies, which caused the dingo problem in the first place. We have little confidence in the outcome. The Government has trotted out a few “experts” who know nothing about Fraser Island, but who sit in a city office making media statements to back up the Governments actions.
Any strategies developed are useless unless the fundamental issue is dealt with—the dogs are starving.
6 or 8 feeding stations inland away from the tourist areas, serviced with dry dog food each week or so, would solve the problem immediately. The dogs would initially argue for territory amongst themselves, but they would quickly get to know that food was available at those places if they were hungry, and if they wanted to hunt they would. Purpose-built hoppers, protected from rain, and a foot or so off the ground to prevent scavenging by bandicoots, (if there are any left) would solve the problem. Dry dog food is balanced, nutritious, and doesn’t smell, or pose health risks. The hoppers should be placed near water.
Further advantages are that the native dogs could be monitored at the sites, put to sleep with a dart gun and tagged if required. Contraceptives could be added to the food if necessary. The island doesn’t support enough wildlife now to feed even a handful of dogs. Feeding stations would also reduce the impact of the dingoes on the few remaining native animals and birds. Those dogs which liked human company, and many do, would no longer be a threat to campers when they decided to visit. Obviously the whole process must be transparent.
Enforcement of rules banning campers from feeding dogs which visit camps should continue. However, even the heaviest of fines will not stop many people from feeding starving dingoes. Most people love dogs, many have had beautiful relationships with a dog at some time in their life. There are very few people who will not feed a starving dog. Heavy fines will not stop it, but seeing an obviously well fed dog will reduce the practice. We dispute statements that dingoes are naturally skinny. They are not. Dingoes in areas of heavy road kills, or in good hunting areas, are often in very good condition. In other states where dingoes can be kept as pets under permit, and properly fed, they are magnificent animals.
Those people who argue the dingoes should be able to feed themselves from island wildlife have little idea of the paucity of island fauna. If there were enough natural food there, the dingoes would not be starving now, and they are. The Fraser Island dingo massacre has imposed a great shame on all Australians, and the Beattie government will never ever be able to live down this horrific crime against nature. Pat O’Brien
The first ever recorded case of harassment of campers for food occurred in 1990. In 1994-5, after more harassment of campers, QPWS decided to kill a few dingoes. They are thought to have killed about 50. Of course, they shot the harmless and easily found animals that were being fed by residents and resort staff. Dingo clans were fractured, young dogs were left without parents to teach them, alpha males and females were killed. 47 dingo skulls later turned up at the Queensland Museum. The remaining dingoes were still starving, and the harassment of campers continued. In 1997 the QPWS produced their Fraser Island Draft Dingo Management Strategy. It was an awful document, and recommended using electric cattle prods, non-lethal poison baits to discourage them from eating human food, shooting dingoes with rubber bullets, and more killing. Giving them poison baits to make them sick had already been trialled in 1996 by QPWS. Letters sent to the RSPCA in 1997 about the cruelty involved in this baiting, still remain unanswered.
The Plan still didn’t address the real issue, how to provide food for the starving dogs. Most groups rejected it out of hand. This draft plan sat in limbo for nearly three years, and the 37 submissions to the plan were ignored. Several letters to the relevant Minister about the status of the Draft produced no response. Harassment of campers continued. In June, 2001, in the first ever confirmed dingo fatality in Australia, the tragic death of a child on Fraser Island dominated the world media.
Overriding any consultation or management processes that were under way, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie immediately ordered a dingo kill. I was in Brisbane, and tried to get a meeting with the Environment Minister, but he had locked himself in his room and wouldn’t come out. Indigenous groups and the Wilderness Society went to Court to gain an injunction to stop the kill. They failed, because they never had enough time to present a substantial case, and the Judge ordered that no more that 30 dingos be killed, (based on erroneous media reports that there were 200 resident dingoes) and the kill must stop by Saturday evening, regardless. 28 of the native dogs were shot, brutally and unnecessarily. Allegations of cruelty have been made, but the RSPCA, who have just received a $250,000 grant from the Government, have not taken any action. Fortunately, some residents moved some younger dogs out of harms way.
Because the Government had an urgency to kill as many as possible before the deadline, and to shift the blame for this fatality from themselves to the dingoes, again the easily accessible dogs were killed first. These included the many dingoes that lay around doing no harm to anyone. The Eurong group, and the clan of beautiful golden dogs, which lived around the Orchid beach servo and store, were killed. These animals lived around the servo, never worrying anyone, and were a constant source of delight to tourists and visitors to the northern part of the Island. Some of the indigenous owners of the Island sent the Premier a bill for $1500 dollars compensation per dog. They also started to build a fence around a camping area near Dilli Village, as a gesture to keep people away from the dingoes.
So then the inevitable happened again. Within a few days, other dogs moved in to take their place, and one camping area had to be closed, because they were not allowed, under the court decision, to kill any more. The figure of 200 dingoes on the Island is a guesstimate by QPWS that was cited in the three years old Draft Dingo Management Plan that was roundly criticised by most parties. Our information, based on reports from residents and visitors, and our own experiences on the Island, is that there currently may only be between 50 an 80 dingoes left on the Island, before the latest kill. There still hasn’t been an accurate scientific survey done on the dingo population.
For three days, the 16th, 17th, and 18th May 2001 I again visited Fraser Island with Sue Arnold, coordinator of Australians for Animals. During our stay I spoke to many people, tourists, residents, workers at the resorts, and campers about dingoes. Everyone I spoke to was appalled at the recent dingo cull. Many locals where afraid that the QPWS would start dropping poison baits. In spite of QPWS stating many times in the past that that they do not use 1080 in or around National Parks, in a story in the Courier Mail 22nd May, they admit that they do. While on the Island, I helped the indigenous people to feed the dingoes fish, and assisted in setting up a regular feeding program with the aboriginal people. The purpose was to attempt to keep the dingoes inland, and away from the guns of the Queensland government.
In the Fraser Is. community there was a strong feeling of disgust and anger, not only that the kill occurred, but in the cruel manner in which the dingoes were killed. A .22 rifle was used, and this is easily verified by looking at media photos of the shooting. A .22 calibre rifle is totally inappropriate for this type of killing. These rifles are used for rabbits, and should never have been used on a larger animal. According to many residents, at least 4 animals were wounded, and escaped into the bush. One later bled to death in Central Station Ck. One absolutely harmless dog lived around a resort many, many miles away from the site of the recent fatality. “Socks” would occasionally jump in the pool for a swim, then lie in the sun in front of the pub to dry out.
Socks was shot but not killed, and returned to the resort 2 days later with a bullet hole in her face. QPWS had to come back and kill her. Tourists, staff, and guests loved this harmless animal, which was brutally killed by QPWS rangers on the orders of Premier Peter Beattie. Several locals told me they believe over 40 dingoes have been killed. We were also told that some QPWS rangers are in stress because of the massacre, and are being counselled.
Many “solutions” have been tendered by many so-called experts, including tourists carrying stones to throw at the dingoes, or sticks to threaten them with. Some have suggested heavy fines for feeding dingoes, not understanding that these are not lions or tigers, they are dogs, and there are few people who will not feed a hungry dog. The bottom line is that these animals are starving, and unless they are fed with a properly structured and authorised feeding program, they will continue to be a problem and another person may die.
The Fraser Island dingoes are the last almost purebred dingoes left anywhere in the World. Their already slim genetic strength has been decimated, in an act of sheer revenge, to satisfy the bloodlust of a dictatorial Premier, who seems to have lost his marbles. Like most Australians I was saddened and sickened by the unwarranted massacre of the Fraser Island dingoes.
Currently the Government is undertaking a “risk management strategy” which is being compiled by the same people, and the same agencies, which caused the dingo problem in the first place. We have little confidence in the outcome. The Government has trotted out a few “experts” who know nothing about Fraser Island, but who sit in a city office making media statements to back up the Governments actions.
Any strategies developed are useless unless the fundamental issue is dealt with—the dogs are starving.
6 or 8 feeding stations inland away from the tourist areas, serviced with dry dog food each week or so, would solve the problem immediately. The dogs would initially argue for territory amongst themselves, but they would quickly get to know that food was available at those places if they were hungry, and if they wanted to hunt they would. Purpose-built hoppers, protected from rain, and a foot or so off the ground to prevent scavenging by bandicoots, (if there are any left) would solve the problem. Dry dog food is balanced, nutritious, and doesn’t smell, or pose health risks. The hoppers should be placed near water.
Further advantages are that the native dogs could be monitored at the sites, put to sleep with a dart gun and tagged if required. Contraceptives could be added to the food if necessary. The island doesn’t support enough wildlife now to feed even a handful of dogs. Feeding stations would also reduce the impact of the dingoes on the few remaining native animals and birds. Those dogs which liked human company, and many do, would no longer be a threat to campers when they decided to visit. Obviously the whole process must be transparent.
Enforcement of rules banning campers from feeding dogs which visit camps should continue. However, even the heaviest of fines will not stop many people from feeding starving dingoes. Most people love dogs, many have had beautiful relationships with a dog at some time in their life. There are very few people who will not feed a starving dog. Heavy fines will not stop it, but seeing an obviously well fed dog will reduce the practice. We dispute statements that dingoes are naturally skinny. They are not. Dingoes in areas of heavy road kills, or in good hunting areas, are often in very good condition. In other states where dingoes can be kept as pets under permit, and properly fed, they are magnificent animals.
Those people who argue the dingoes should be able to feed themselves from island wildlife have little idea of the paucity of island fauna. If there were enough natural food there, the dingoes would not be starving now, and they are. The Fraser Island dingo massacre has imposed a great shame on all Australians, and the Beattie government will never ever be able to live down this horrific crime against nature. Pat O’Brien
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