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Category: Pets and Animals

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Dingo ‘ATTACK’ on Fraser Island
Category: Pets and Animals

by Jennifer Parkhurst, Wildlife Photographer, Fraser Island

News reports are flooding the country about an alleged dingo attack on Fraser Island yesterday (April 17 2007).

A four year old girl was playing near her father's car (while he was fishing), when she was 'mauled' by the dingo yesterday, suffering 'bites to the thighs, buttocks and lower back'.
A spokeswoman from the ambulance service was quoted as saying '"The first aid people arrived, but they were there more to calm the girl down,"
News reports confirm that she was 'treated on the scene for minor injuries'.

What doesn't get reported is that the child did not require hospitalisation or stitches for deep wounds, as one would expect from a dingo attack; that the family has continued with their holiday; and that the dog was a 9 month old pup, which is now being destroyed.

Dingo pups are by nature very playful. They engage each other in play regularly, and their play involves nipping and biting each other (see the photos below). These pups wander out onto the beaches, and being naturally curious, approach people. They feint, duck and weave, as enticement to play. When an unsupervised child reacts to the dog's excitement, the pup takes up the invitation and engages in play.







I saw a similar scenario last week, where not one but two dingo pups approached a family fishing. The three little boys, under 7 years old, did not react but calmly went about their fishing, with their parents close at hand supervising at all times. The pups' excitement died down, and they ended up lying alongside the family and watching while they fished.

I was not there to observe this pup run onto the beach and maul the child, but with the reported minor injuries, I would hazard a guess that it was nipping rather than biting that occurred. Clearly, if a dingo wanted to 'maul' a child, there would need to be more than 'calming' measures taken after the event.

With mating season currently underway, last years' pups are particularly excited at present. And with a major influx of tourists due to the Easter holidays, it is inevitable that dingoes and people come into contact with each other.

This is what should be reported, instead of melodramatic hearsay using shocking language, with incomplete reporting and erroneous facts. The media should be ashamed of the circus it created on FI today while reporting the news. The irony is that while sensationalizing (reporting) the dingo attacks, they were all madly driving around trying to get footage of all the rampant dingoes on Fraser, and couldn't seem to find any. News footage on one TV channel showed captive dingoes.
One news report suggested that the attack was caused because dingoes are fed on Fraser Island by tourists. This incident has less to do with feeding the animals than it does with lack of parental supervision. It is widely believed that locals from various villages on Fraser Island regularly feed dingoes. If feeding the animals made them aggressive, then every dingo from inhabited area of Fraser Island would be aggressive and attacking regularly. We would have to completely eradicate them from the inhabited areas of the island.

If parents supervised their children as though they were in a wildlife reserve in Africa, there would be a remarkable reduction in problems with dingoes.

In fact, if parents supervised their children as though they were at home, there would be fewer problems.

Domestic dog attacks occur at alarming frequency each year, yet rarely get reported. Just last month a young girl was attacked on Rainbow Beach by a domestic dog, which was dealt with by police, yet the story never hit the news. People are careful when walking their kids past homes with large dogs behind fences, and parents are careful in parks when approached by a strange dog. Most parents have taught their kids to ask permission before patting a dog that they don't know. With all this common sense being practiced in our neighborhoods and homes, why does common sense suddenly go out the door once we are away on holidays, especially when we go to a destination that is well known to have a population of wild animals?

As someone once said: 'We all want to get close to nature – but when nature comes close to us, we want to kill it.'

QPWS can do no more than they are already doing in so far as trying to educate tourists to be aware of dingoes while they are visiting the island. When you purchase your permit, you are given a swag of information about being 'dingo aware'; when you board the barge you are confronted with yet more information. You can't walk anywhere without seeing a dingo warning sign, advising there are dingoes in the area and what to do if you see one. People simply do not go to Fraser Island uninformed about the dangers of dingo interaction.

The two dingoes that were reported to have been killed over the Easter period were pups as well, marked for killing because they were 'becoming bolder', not because they had actually done anything other than growl at someone. The QPWS is backed into a corner with having to dispose of 'problem' dogs before they even become a problem. Where does it all end?
With 400,000 visitors to Fraser Island each year, it is amazing that there are so few incidents involving dingoes. In fact, there are more incidents endangering life involving drink driving, speeding, & inexperienced driving.

How good do dingoes have to be? They are wild animals trying to exist in an ever-decreasing environment, forced away from their natural hunting and play grounds so we can feel safe.

These over-excited, exaggerated reports of so called dingo attacks need to be stopped. I hope people realize with every incident they report, they are causing the death of another dingo. These dingoes are our heritage. Fraser Island dingoes need to be treasured. Give the poor dingoes a break, or find yourself another holiday destination.

SAVE the DINGO! click here to sign the petition

1:26 AM - 2 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment

MARKED FOR DEATH!
Category: Pets and Animals

Another dingo is marked for death - signs have gone up on the beach - identifying the particular dingo as aggressive. Here are photos of the 'aggressive' dingo in question.





Here he is in the foreground, more interested in digging up and eating pippies than the tourists in the background.




And here posing for his photo to be taken.

It's just moving into mating season for the dingoes - it happens once a year and all the males are more excitable than usual. This particular male is only about nine months old and is not quite old enough to mate yet - and it looks like he will probably never get the chance.

SAVE the DINGO! click here to sign the petition

5:22 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Why aren’t there any ‘old’ dingoes seen on FRASER ISLAND?
Category: Pets and Animals

A dingoes life span is about 10 years, yet the oldest dingoes seen out on beaches seem to be 2-3 years.

One local tells of the sad story of a 10 year old dingo who used to enjoy the respite of a shady tree in the Eurong township, always seen just sitting there watching the passing parade of tourist busses and vehicles. The dingo was eventually shot by rangers – but the shot missed. The dingo was seen the next day sitting under the same tree with half his face bloody having been grazed by the bullet but not killed.

Local indigenous people report many similar incidents, with dingoes appearing at their camp suffering bullet wounds and cruel injuries caused by sloppy shooting.

STOP THE KILLING OF NATIVE DINGOES IN THE WORLD HERITAGE LISTED FRASER ISLAND! click here to sign the petition

2:26 PM - 0 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

DINGO PUP MARKED FOR DEATH!
Category: Pets and Animals

Another Fraser Island dingo pup has been officially marked for removal by rangers, a lovely if feisty little thing, who doesn't deserve to be killed.

HELP STOP THIS NOW! click here to sign the petition

3:21 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

DINGO BAITING - HAPPENING NOW!
Category: Pets and Animals

Local baiting of pure black dingoes has commenced; a family of beautiful dingoes who have had a litter of black pups (only 1.7% of dingoes are black) are being targeted.

Baiting is a cruel fate, the animals suffer for up to three days before they eventually die.

THIS CANNOT CONTINUE! click here to sign the petition

3:10 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Death of the dingo?
Category: Pets and Animals

The following article appeared in both the Courier Mail (Brisbane) and the The Age (Melbourne) Newspapers - 29th March 2007.

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.

5:06 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

THE DINGO - guardians of our future!
Category: Pets and Animals

SAVE the DINGO would like to thank Nic Papalia for the following piece
Nic is the President of the
West Australian Dingo Association

Our top land predator - holding everything in the ecosystem in balance.

The 'Lion King' concept - as easy as that to understand the significance and importance of saving the dingo.

The ignorance and continual aerial baiting of 1080 not only kills the dingo but Raptors, reptiles and many secondary birds and animals. We should learn from the lesson where the wolves were exterminated in Canada, Mexico, Japan and Scotland - all these countries have now reintroduced the wolf to protect and keep everything in equilibrium. Australian Politicians condem the Japanese for killing whales but hypocritically condone the extermination of our dingo!

Last November Minister Bob Debus authorised the aerial bait drop of 1080 inside the Kosciosko National Park where the last bastion of round 100 Alpine Dingoes lived in what was supposed to be a sanctuary - many of them are now dead from 1080 baiting - they were tagged!

Minister for PRIMARY INDUSTRIES Ian Macdonald has authorised the entire state of NSW to be baited with 1080 and no-one blinks an eye lid! Why??

In WA the state has four aerial bait drops a year which cost 18 million dollars dropping 1080 onto Aboriginal lands and wilderness areas. ALL our State Parks and supposed Sancutaries in Australia are poisoned with 1080! Pasturalists can kill animals on their property but the state parks are ALL Australians - they are our treasures and dont belong to a bunch of surrounding farmers!

The dingo is to be recognised internationally as 'heritage listed'.

The dingo is also recognised internationally as endangered.

It has been incredibly difficult to get this information to the vast majority of Australians as the media has not delivered the information to them and would rather it appear focus on more trivial points than this major catastrophe.

Incorrect information has been given to justify 1080 stating it is from a natural pea plant - there is NOTHING natural about 1080 - it is man made in a laboratory where the sense of taste and smell are removed and the toxin levels magnified which create a super toxin that has no antidote and kills everything, working on metabolism. One teaspoon will kill 100 humans, there is no way of containing a bait, if a raptor drops a bait in a yard and a child eats this poison it will die!

Wake up Australians!

www.wadingo.com

7:54 AM - 0 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

PETITION - the Faser Island dingo needs your help!
Category: Pets and Animals

SAVE the DINGO - the Faser Island dingo needs your help!

The native Australian dingo should be classified as a protected species.

It should be removed from noxious animal, pest and vermin lists.

Non-lethal and humane control measures should be developed and implemented where the dingo interacts with humans and livestock.

10:13 AM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

WATCH OUT DINGOES
Category: Pets and Animals

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.

10:06 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment