Fraser Dingoes....Government Disgrace

Fraser Island Dingoes

A wildlife photographer who became emotionally attached to a pack of dingoes on Fraser Island and filmed herself feeding them has been fined $40,000 and sentenced to a suspended jail term. Jennifer Louise Parkhurst faced 46 charges under the Nature Conservation Act and Recreation Areas Management Act. The 43-year-old Rainbow Beach woman yesterday pleaded guilty in Maryborough Magistrates Court to all charges, despite previously indicating she would contest the allegations. Defence lawyer Kristy Crabb said Parkhurst became “emotionally invested” in the dingoes known as the Hook Point Pack after seeing three pups die of what Parkhurst believed to be starvation in 2008. Ms Crabb said Parkhurst only fed the dingoes at the insistence of her former boyfriend Adam Randall. Footage that Parkhurst had filmed was played in the court as part of the prosecution's case.

The films showed Parkhurst feeding the dingoes on several occasions, including a scene from Christmas Day 2008, in which Parkhurst's voice can be heard narrating. “It's Christmas Day and the pups are getting a beautiful, beautiful present, something they've never had before. “This is a jailable offence, hopefully it's not the wrong thing to do, but ... they've never had roast chicken before.” Parkhurst narrated another film sequence after the dingoes had finished their Christmas dinner. “Well they loved that,” she said. “Three roast chickens, one of them free-range, which cost a fortune.” The next segment of film showed Parkhurst hand-feeding the dingoes some gift-wrapped dog treats. On other occasions the dingoes were fed bread, raw meat, dog biscuits, cheese and fruit – mostly coconuts that Parkhurst and her friends had collected from the beach and cracked open for the animals.

The dingoes' taste for fruit was mentioned by Parkhurst in several of the film sequences, in which she commented “fruit is their favourite food – they love it so much ... they didn't like the apple all that much, but didn't they love the mango ... they love coconut more than anything else...” On one occasion Parkhurst's 12-year-old god-daughter accompanied her to the island. The film shows the girl eating a packet of chips and a dingo pup trying to get the food. The animal then becomes bolder and nips at the girl's ponytail before grabbing her singlet and biting the child on her hip area. As the girl starts to cry, Parkhurst is seen growling at the dingo and telling the animal it had been naughty.

DERM prosecutor Ralph Devlin said Parkhurst's actions undermined the State Government's Dingo Management Strategy and increased the risk of dingoes becoming aggressive towards humans. “It was a deliberate and covert campaign in which she portrays herself as the saviour of the dingoes and the rangers as the oppressors,” Mr Devlin said. “She has, in many respects, a commendable view about the conservation of the environment. “There's a range of opinions on the effectiveness of the department's dingo management strategy. Whether the current dingo management strategy is successful or not is irrelevant to her offending.” Mr Devlin referred to a statement by a zoologist who said it was normal for predators generally and dingoes especially to be “lean and wiry”. Five of the six pups Parkhurst interacted with were destroyed by rangers after exhibiting increasingly aggressive behaviour toward island visitors, Mr Devlin told the court.

Magistrate John Smith said it was clear from the recordings that Parkhurst knew she was breaking the law. He said her actions in taking a child within such close proximity to the dingoes should be condemned. Mr Smith imposed $40,000 in fines and sentenced Parkhurst to four concurrent nine-month jail terms, wholly suspended for three years. Parkhurst walked out of the courtroom smiling yesterday afternoon and told waiting reporters that she was “very shaken”. “It's been a long, difficult journey. None of it has been pleasant.” Ms Parkhurst said her next plan was to have a holiday. “Not on Fraser Island.” * Fraser Coast Chronicle.... WPAA Editorial Below.

Editorial

The Fraser Island dingoes......What can we say? Jennifer Parkhurst, a widely-respected woman, and an insulin-dependent diabetic, was rudely awakened 15 months ago at 7am by the DERM squad pounding on her door. She then spent the next six hours in a horrified state of shock, watching her personal possessions and professional equipment being pulled apart, then carried off by the DERM goons. We don't think Jennifer Parkhurst realised the vindictiveness and persistence of the louts that are employed by the Queensland Government to manage Fraser Island and the unfortunate dingoes. Some statements made by the prosecutor in the Fraser Coast Chronicle story above were quite wrong. A claim that "the dingo family were destroyed by rangers after exhibiting increasingly aggressive behaviour toward island visitors" are false, the dingo family were killed out of sheer bloodymindedness. You can watch these beautiful animals at the link here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehX8LwCrWqE which shows the group of dingoes playing. All these dingoes in this footage have since been killed by the Queensland Government. We've said it before, many times, and we say it again, the Fraser Island Dingo Management Plan is the greatest wildlife management blunder ever committed in Queensland, and it's obvious that the Queensland Government will persist with this terrible strategy until there are no Fraser Island dingoes left. There are times like this when I am so ashamed to be a Queenslander. More about the FI dingoes below. *WPAA Ed.

Fraser Island Dingoes

The Save the Fraser Island Dingoes group has engaged a legal team to try to change dingo management laws on the island off south-east Queensland. The group is a major supporter of wildlife photographer Jennifer Parkhurst, who was last week fined $40,000 for feeding dingoes on Fraser. Secretary Karin Kilpatrick says many of the island's dingoes are starving and she wants the State Government to conduct an urgent wildlife study to find out if the dingoes have enough natural food sources. She says the Government's dingo management strategy is not working and the dingo feeding law needs to be changed. "At the moment, it's a stalemate," she said. "We just can't seem to agree that there is a problem and that's what has to be acknowledged first of all. "Solicitors have come on board so that we are doing everything by the law. "As I said, time will tell just how far we progress with this. "We have received advice from the legal people and political advice as well as scientific advice and we'll keep working with these people to change the strategy and hopefully also legislation." *ABC