| Tuesday 22nd May, 2007 |
The following article appeared in the Melbourne Herald Sun newspaper and was written by Sarah Wotherspoon (Environmental Reporter) Dingoes may be listed The dingo could become a protected species in Victoria (Australia) after it was recommended to list the native dog as endangered. The scientific advisory committee for the State Government's Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act recommended listing the dingo because it was in danger of extinction due to interbreeding with domestic and wild dogs. The committee said remote dingo populations were declining. It was likely in 20 years that only 17 per cent of the northeast Victorian dingoes could be classified as pure blood. "Hybridisation with domestic dogs remains the greatest threat to the continued existence of pure dingo populations," the committee said. "The increased frequency and intensity of bushfire in remaining habitat areas, and wild dog control programs are likely to result in a decline in the reproduction of remnant dingo populations." But the recommendation has outraged farmers concerned about the danger to livestock. Victorian Farmers Federation land management committee chair Gerald Leach said wild dog control must be considered in any debate over listing the dingo as a protected species. "We are concerned that listing the dingo as endangered will hamper wild dog control efforts, which will have a devastating impact on livestock and native fauna," he said. "The VFF strongly suggests the Government and community seek to improve the plight of dingoes and other native fauna by boosting wild dog control efforts rather than listing the dingo as endangered." Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Ian Miles said the DSE's main priority was the control of wild dogs in Victoria. |
| Tuesday 24th April, 2007 |
The following article was put together by the ABC Dingos' genetic purity put to the test A new genetic test will be used to determine the purity of the Northern Territory's dingo population and ensure its survival. The Parks and Wildlife Service has launched the first management plan for the dingo, which will run until 2011. Scientist Glenn Edwards says the tests use tissue samples and faeces to show how pure-bred dingos are faring." Not really how many but what we're really interested in is the status of our dingos in terms of how pure they are," he said. "Because that's probably the greatest threat to the survival of the wild dingo in the long term - it's the fact that they do hybridise with domestic dogs and they lose their genetic purity." Dr Edwards says dingos found to be coming into contact with people in national parks will be killed. "If you have a situation where people are encouraging dingos, feeding dingos, those animals which may become habituated to people and used to people can pose a threat, perhaps not so much to adults but certainly children," he said. "Once that happens, that dingo we would consider to be a problem and it has to be removed from the system." |
| Friday 20th April, 2007 |
The following is an AAP NEWSFEATURE by Rosemary Desmond Dingoes stay on Fraser
Island, BRISBANE, April 20 AAP - Far from being a pest to be stamped out, dingoes are a natural resource to be valued, say wildlife experts. World Heritage listed Fraser Island's dingoes were in the headlines yet again this week when a four-year-old girl became the latest victim. She was bitten on the thigh, buttocks and lower back and had to be treated by paramedics as a hunt was launched for the dingo that attacked her. She had been playing close to her father's vehicle on the beach
near the Last year, there were two similar attacks - in August and September - prompting renewed calls for action. Six years ago, there were calls for the island to be rid of dingoes altogether after nine year-old Clinton Gage was mauled to death at the popular tourist area of Waddy Point in April 2001. At the time, Eric Parups (Parups)
of the Fraser Island Association and a Instead, dingo numbers were thinned, and tourists and residents were given stronger warnings not to feed them. As the latest case resonated across the country, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman Terry Harper said dingoes should be valued, and humans needed to take greater care. Mr Harper said what were supposed to be wild but timid animals accustomed to hunting their prey in the wild had become emboldened scavengers seeking easy pickings at campsites and near homes. He said the Fraser Island dingoes, estimated to number between 100 and 200, are there to stay, even if they were outnumbered by the human population. "The dingoes on Fraser Island are one of the purest-bred dingoes in Australia," he said. "They are also recognised as one of the World Heritage values for which Fraser Island has been inscribed on the World Heritage list." "So we believe that removing dingoes from the island would be unwise and unnecessary because if people take the necessary precautions such as looking after their kids, not walking alone and not feeding dingoes, they will be safe enough to enjoy Fraser Island." On the mainland, dingoes were often treated as pests and shot because of the risk of interbreeding with wild dogs, causing problems in farming areas and near towns, Mr Harper said. But as far as Queensland's conservation laws were concerned, dingoes were a natural resource when they lived in a national park. "They are a natural resource under the legislation, that is why they are protected," he said. "It's in everyone's best interests to let the dingoes behave as wild animals." "So it is very much a people management issue not a dingo management issue - that's the hard part about it." Some experts say part of the "people management" strategy should be to keep children away from the island during certain times of the year. Dingo researcher Nick Baker questioned why people with small children came to Fraser Island in the dingoes' autumn breeding season. Young children were prime targets for dingoes "ramped up" on the need to breed, he said. "(The dingoes) have hormones running through
them all the time, they are "The females are also coming into breeding season and they are very excitable as well, so it's not a mix you would want to be throwing kids into." Mr Baker said that if families
are to visit the island parents should keep "Fraser Island
is a dangerous place for a whole range of reasons, not just "If
you are on the beach, there is the sound of the surf and maybe
traffic |
| Thursday 29th March, 2007 |
The following article appeared in both the Courier Mail (Brisbane) and the The Age (Melbourne) Newspapers. Death of the dingo? A DINGO conservation group has labelled Victoria's $50 bounty for wild dogs an act of environmental vandalism that will push the animal to extinction. Hunters will get $50 per dingo and $10 per fox under a $1 million government bounty scheme to eliminate them from bushfire-ravaged areas. But Dingo CARE network secretary Dr Ernest Healy today said wild dogs included pure dingoes, which were an endangered native species in Victoria. "The Victoria Labor government has recklessly embarked on a line of action that will push remaining pure and near-pure dingo populations to extinction," he said. Dr Healy described the bounty as a politically opportunist move designed to appease extremist farmers. It followed recent bids to re-introduce aerial baiting on public land with the 1080 super toxin, despite the government being repeatedly told of the threatened status of dingoes in Victoria, he said. Dr Healy added that recent research showed dingoes helped preserve threatened small marsupials from foxes and feral cats. He said the decision to introduce a bounty should be reversed. |
| Sunday 4th March, 2007 |
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On an ongoing basis the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) have been 'dealing' with dingoes that interact with humans, and it seems in the last few months this activity is increasing. A dingoes 'human interaction' can be as benign as sniffing around or just walking through a tourist campsite. The penalties for a dingo 'misbehaving' can be fatal. Above is a sign that the QPWS rangers had up recently for a few weeks, it has now been taken down - it would be fair to assume that the 'offending' dingo has been killed. Unfortunately the dingoes can't read the signs. It has been reported that the QPWS rangers
cull (kill) at least 1 dingo a month on Fraser Island. Which
may not sound a lot, but when you realise that there are only
about 120 in total and they are believed to be the only pure strain
of dingo left in the world - it's 1 too many per month. |
December 1, 2006 PROPOSED changes to federal environment laws place a cloud over efforts to have the pure-bred dingo listed as an endangered species, the Humane Society International says. Amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act are before federal Parliament. HSI director Michael Kennedy yesterday said the dingo was listed by the World Conservation Union in Switzerland as a vulnerable species, due to a serious risk of extinction in the wild because of hybridisation with domestic dogs. "Dingoes have existed in Australia for more than 4000 years,'' MrKennedy said. "As a keystone predator, the dingo is vitally importantin regulating the species' richness and abundance of animalsand plants in (certain) levels. "Loss of the dingo from our wild ecosystems would lead to a shift in the predator-prey balance, seriously altering the plant and animal communities in these areas. "We ask (federal Environment Minister) Senator (Ian) Campbell to commit to assessing these critical populations for protection underthe EPBC's powerful heritage provisions.'' Society
concern at dingo controls MICHAEL KENNEDY...(the) director of The Humane Society International says his organisation has nominated the seven most important places protecting the most outstanding examples of intact dingo populations in Australia. MrKENNEDY says if the proposed amendments to the act are passed in Canberra this week... the government's likely to choose to avoid assessing these dingo populations for listing. The dingoes listed by HSI live in the Arafura Swamp... Bradshaw Training Area and Kapalga in the Northern Territory... Fraser Island in Queensland... the Kimberley Islands in Western Australia... Kosciuszko in New South Wales Fed: Changes to act could be bad news for dingo - HSI,AAP Australian National News Wire, Nov 30, 2006 |
