![]() The study’s authors concluded that dogs of domestic origin rarely survive in the wild and therefore “wild dog” lethal control efforts were killing dingoes. ![]() Last year a groundbreaking study by the University of New South Wales destroyed the wild dog myth by revealing that 99 per cent of “wild dogs” caught in Australia were, in fact, either pure-bred dingoes or dingo-dominant hybrids (dingoes with more than 50 per cent dingo genes). By falsely portraying dingoes as “wild dogs”, government authorities and the agriculture industry manufacture consent to kill them as an introduced pest species. The “wild dog” narrative plants the false notion that there are ferocious packs of formerly domestic dogs marauding across the countryside, preying on farmed animals. To make the killing of a native species more palatable to the public, government authorities and agricultural bodies routinely refer to dingoes only as “wild dogs” when talk turns to extermination. SPEAK UP FOR DINGOES NOWįew Australians are aware of the massive lethal campaigns waged against the dingo - and that is by design. Urgent action is required now to ensure the dingo does not join that list due to short-sighted government policy. It is extraordinary that the government does not even know how many dingoes it kills annually or how many are left.Īustralia holds the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of mammal extinctions of any country in the world. The Victorian Government’s limited knowledge of dingo ecology and dwindling numbers of a species it has listed as threatened has failed to slow its eradication efforts. Unfortunately, Victoria’s dingoes cannot see an invisible line within their natural habitat which instantly changes their status from a protected species worthy of conservation to a “wild dog” with a death sentence. Instead of investing many millions of dollars annually in wiping out an already threatened species, governments and industry could instead invest in non-lethal solutions such as exclusion fencing and the use of guardian animals to protect farmed animals. A dingo who has never killed animals on a farming property, and perhaps never would, will still be targeted with poison and traps. While there are losses due to dingo predation in farms near national parks, dingoes are often killed for a crime they didn’t commit with industry surveys showing that farmers overestimated the actual incidence of predation by “wild dogs”. Yet the industry’s own studies have shown that the high rate of lamb mortalities in Australia is due to farming practices and breeding for multiple births in more than 80 per cent of cases. The agriculture industry is behind the push for the eradication of dingoes anywhere near farmland, blaming them for the death of farmed animals, mostly lambs. With no monitoring or oversight, it is highly likely that dingoes are killed within protected areas with the cash incentive of the bounty. ![]() Under a ministerial exemption to their protection status, known as an “Order of Council”, Victoria’s dingoes are declared “unprotected” on any private land and in buffer zones extending three kilometres inside national parks that adjoin farmland.Ī further Wild West approach to eliminating so-called “wild dogs” in Victoria is a bounty scheme that encourages recreational hunters to kill them for a $120 ‘reward’ per animal. ![]() ![]() But through a cruel twist, more dingoes are being killed in Victoria since they received their listing as threatened, due to ramped up efforts to eradicate them for commercial interests. Victoria is the only state where dingoes have a protected status as a threatened native species. They even offer a cash bounty on dingoes’ heads - meaning anyone with a gun licen c e can be financially rewarded for killing these native animals. While alternative options exist, the Victorian Government not only permits but encourages dingoes to be killed by poison, trapping and shooting. This effect is known as a trophic cascade, where a predator has a “cascading” effect through many layers of an ecosystem and indirectly helps other species survive.īut sadly, their future is grim with agricultural interests driving inhumane ‘eradication programs’, eliminating this native animal from the Australian ecosystem. These extraordinary animals perform an outsized role in keeping our ecosystems in good health by reducing the number of introduced predators, such as cats and foxes, while protecting plant species and even the soil. After two centuries of persecution by agricultural interests, Australia’s iconic dingo is gaining increasing recognition as an ecological saviour within our imperilled environment. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |