Prev
Next

This specific dingo did not eat any babies

John Mikkelsen

by John Mikkelsen

29 Apr 05:45am

Must Reads

Abbott’s crass logic: trash the Parliament in order save it - this is a caption

Abbott’s crass logic: trash the Parliament in order save it

180

Our special forces don’t always need special treatment - this is a caption

Our special forces don’t always need special treatment

27

A good holiday is about unrest, not rest - this is a caption

A good holiday is about unrest, not rest

3

Filed under: Conservation, Dingoes, Lindy Chamberlain, Sharks, Wildlife

123 comments

Political correctness rules our lives and while I’m all for equal opportunity, why not extend it to some of the creatures that share our great country?

Man's best friend? Pic: Peter Wallis

Why is it considered acceptable for one or two species to regularly claim human lives, while another is hunted down and killed in retribution? Or a whole colony culled, after what might be little more than a nip?

If you are unlucky enough to be eaten or bitten in the sea, you are intruding, you knowingly took the risk and the chances are very high that the protected predator responsible will be allowed to swim off in search of its next feed.

Then we have the other situation, where if a human is attacked even through negligence or stupidity, revenge is swift and permanent.

Shoot the dingo and its mate, try to keep the rest behind electric fences, consider the possibility of another cull … but aren’t we intruding on their territory too?

The answer is obviously yes. This lopsided set of values and predjudicial judgement against Australia’s own version of the wolf reared its head again this week when a toddler was nipped on Fraser Island.

According to eye witnesses, the little girl had been allowed to wander unaccompanied into the dunes. The two dingoes responsible were captured and shot, bringing the number destroyed this year to five.

Dingo expert Dr Ian Gunn, from Monash University, has called for an immediate review of the dingo management strategy on the island.  He said the attacks would be a recurring problem because there were more tourists visiting the island. Parents should supervise children more closely.The Save Fraser Island Dingoes group had previously complained about the dingoes starving, calling for them to be fed and for the “euthanasia” of some animals to end.

But Department of Environment and Resource Management marine general manager Terry Harper denied natural food supplies were dwindling on the island, or that the dingoes were starving.

The latest attack came 10 years after the fatal mauling of a nine year old boy, Clinton Gage, which prompted the culling of more than two dozen Fraser Island dingoes and an overhaul of conservation practices, including warnings about human interaction with the animals.

The boy’s death was also a reality check for many who had not accepted a young mother’s anguished cry many years before:

A dingo’s taken my baby…

That was in 1980, when Lindy Chamberlain reported seeing a dingo carry her infant daughter, Azaria, away from a tent during a camping trip to Uluru, in Australia’s central desert. Ms Chamberlain was tried and convicted for murder before a series of appeals and judicial inquiries exonerated her and found the dingo claims to be true. Azaria’s body was never found and the story was later told in the film A Cry In The Dark, which earned Meryl Streep an Oscar nomination.

But those are the only two known fatalities inflicted by dingoes on humans in recent times. Should the Fraser Island dingoes, probably the last remaining pure strain of our native dog and now numbering only about 200, be further penalised because they happen to occupy a beautiful wilderness island?

Why should they pay such a high price when there have been seven known shark fatalities in Australian waters since 2005, with no serious suggestion of shark culling by anyone in authority as a result?

Photographer Jennifer Parkhurst last year was fined $40,000 and banned from the island after being convicted of charges related to feeding some dingoes. The prosecution had expected a $5,000 penalty.

Meanwhile it is apparently acceptable for charter boat operators to openly attract and excite great white sharks by pouring buckets of burley and blood into the water off some southern coastal communities. Killer sharks, white pointers in particular, seem to have a great team of spin doctors handling their defence. They mistook you for a seal, they did not really mean to bite you in half or rip your leg off, which must be a great consolation.

And what makes great whites, the most efficient killer, so special? Their numbers reportedly are increasing rapidly, especially in Australian waters. It’s all a case of balance and now they have no predators. They were once mainly confined to colder southern areas, but now follow the annual whale migrations up the east coast. Sightings along the Great Barrier Reef and Queensland beaches are no longer a rarity, so if a few happen to end up in Gold Coast shark nets or even the drum lines off my local beach, I for one will not be shedding a crocodile tear as I wait for a wave.

It’s more than three decades since Peter Benchley’s novel and the subsequent movie, Jaws, with typical Hollywood overkill, sent terrified bathers scrambling from the surf.

But did you know the saga of the great white with a taste for human flesh was inspired by actual events off New Jersey beaches during a summer heatwave in 1916?

In the space of 12 days, five people were attacked by what was thought to have been a great white. Only one survived to tell the tale…

Most commented

431Australia, you have nothing to fear but fear itself
390There's no one Thomson won't burn to save his skin
336Animal experiments won't cure me from cancer
313Thomson didn't answer the question everyone is asking
266Who murdered the Arts degree?
231Craig Thomson speaks. Meanwhile, in Australia...
231South Australia. It's the middle bottom bit.
223The world puzzles over Australia's Prime Minister

123 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • thatmosis says:

      07:12am | 29/04/11

      The whole Fraser Island Dingo episode has been once agin handled wrong by a Government known for getting things wrong. The FI Dingoe is unique in the world but this Government is hell bent on destroying all vestiges of it in a very short time. We have even had FI Dingoes dumped on our property on the mainland. The main source of food, the brumby was moved off or culled s the dingoes have to resort to stealing food from the people who go there but the people dont realise that this island is the teritory of the Dingo and therefore they have more rights than we do unless of course you work for the Government who believes in protecting nothing and destroying everything. As for children being bitten, where were the parents when all this was going on ????????????

      Reply

    • Wild Violet says:

      07:30am | 29/04/11

      Keep the people off Frazer Island, put brumby herds back - let nature manage the Island.
      The relocation of dingoes off Frazer Island was a total disaster. Dropped in the forest near Cracow, they were literally dropped off and expected them to fend for themselves, on the mainland.
      Many of these dingos were killed by local dingoes in the forest, others having no fear of humans, walked straight up and into chook houses, subsequently shot!
      If this is DERMS idea of management (QNPWS) then this is a FINE example of NOT to let any government department manage wildlife at all! Bloody fools!

    • Kika says:

      07:44am | 29/04/11

      I agree in part about reducing tourist numbers on Fraser. Though it’s a big tourist attraction and we know how much QLD loves it’s tourism.
      How much more public awareness do we need to do? It’s common knowledge that dingoes roam over Fraser and if you’re taking kids with you, you need to be extra cautious about allowing them to go off to play by themselves or even with other kids. Dingoes are not cute little native dogs - they are WILD!  If they were wolves would it be more apparent that there’s danger in allowing your kids to roam by themselves?

    • Mark W says:

      02:14pm | 29/04/11

      You also have to remember that in 1980 just about everyone had a rifle in the outback (they sold rifles in Kmart in 1980) and the Dingo’s had a natural fear of humans which kept them well away from us. Today they don’t have that natural fear which is causing them to come in close contact with humans.

    • Peter says:

      02:58pm | 29/04/11

      Spot on Mark - many of the wild predator animals are so over protected that they no longer have a healthy fear of humans. Dingos, crocs and flying fox numbers are explodingin numbers to the point that the environment cannot support them. How many dingos were on the island before it was inhabited or before the brumbies were introduced - perhaps there are too many dingos on the island for their own good and the same with the crocs and flying foxes. As for blaming the parents - the best watch children do at times slip out of their parents sight.

    • Rosyn Coch says:

      04:23pm | 29/04/11

      Well said John, and equally well put Wild Violet. It’s about time some across the board equality was introduced. It is blatant misguided, one eyed hypocrisy to oritect one species and endeavour to eradicate another.

      The environmentalists are so quick to call for the locking up of huge tracts of viable land because ‘there may be an endangered soecies to be found on it”: but are sanguine about this disfgrgaceful ‘culling’ of the FI dingo population when the sharks (ad nauseum) are claimed protected because WE have dared to trespass into THEIR terrotory.
      It’s time for some common sense (oh I forgot, that’s a misonmer when talking about Green/Enviromental policies); and take a realistic look at what is happening.
      If the tourists want to go the FI then THEY must watch their children and not let them wander off. The dingo was there before them and have a right to expect to live there.  What right do we have to say WE are more important than this species but another can have more rights than this one. It is a circular argument and until some idiots have been taught how to be fair minded and rational then this is going to be repeated at the animals expense.
      This is so typical - I’m disgusted that management of the issue is to cull the animals yet again.

    • John Mikkelsen says:

      01:06pm | 01/05/11

      @ Rosyn Coch, you get the point which seems to escape some such as poor Soames near the end of the thread who can’t grasp more than one concept at a time and a couple of others who just hop on at the end and repeat the dubious claim dingoes aren’t native so shoot ‘em.

    • CJ Morgan says:

      07:22am | 29/04/11

      For once I (mostly) agree with you, Mikko.  The hysteria generated about dingoes on Fraser Island is way out of proportion with the actual risks, if people behave sensibly and responsibly.  Mind you, I think that the humane euthanasia of the dingoes in last week’s incident was probably necessary.  Dingoes are smart, particularly when it comes to food - and they’re wild predatory animals that learn.

      I think that if people are going to continue to be able to visit and camp relatively freely on Fraser Island, current prohibitions on feeding dingoes should be more stringently applied.  Also, while it’s obviously a very distressing time for the family involved, there was contributory negligence in allowing - albeit inadvertently - their child to wander unaccompanied into the dunes of a well-known dingo habitat where children had been attacked previously.

      I wouldn’t object to the euthanasia of a shark that was actually threatening humans, either - but I guess it’s a bit harder to identify which particular shark in a very large ocean, as opposed to the naturally bounded territory of an island.  I’ve spent a lot of time in Australia’s bush and in our coastal waters, where I’ve seen any number of dingoes, snakes, crocodiles, sharks etc - strangely enough, I can’t recall any time that either I, my family or anybody we’ve been with has been attacked by a native animal anywhere.

      Lastly, I think the MSM bear a lot of responsibility for fanning the recurrent hysteria about wild native animals like dingoes and sharks.  Perhaps it’d be helpful if we were to see more sober and informative reporting than hysterical headlines?

      Reply

    • IanM says:

      12:13pm | 01/05/11

      Hmmm, some of you obviously do not realize that crocs and sharks have very tiny brains and are motivated almost solely by instinct. So when you say they can “develop a healthy fear of humans” by staring down the barrel of a gun, this is absolute nonsense. Dingoes of course do have much higher intelligence, in fact moreso than some of the redneck idiots leaving comments on this page by the sound of it. Fraser Island is a national park and at the rate the dingoes are being slaughtered by DERM, there will be none left before much longer. The fact is that the dingoes are doing it very tough on Fraser Island, many are starving in fact. It is desperation that is forcing them into closer contact with humans. No amount of guns pointed in their faces will alter this fact, nor resolve the problem. The fact that so many dingoes have already been shot by rangers proves that shooting at them has no positive effect. I understand that hazing has been largely ruled out on the island because it was not working. DERM’s ideology of fear is what is largely driving the continuing problems on Fraser Island. What we need is a new ideology based on respect.

    • Echosmum says:

      02:57pm | 21/02/12

      The child was unattended in an area with dingoes,death adders,1000’s of 4x4’s, and of course the ocean. The mother and nanna were unaware that she was not with them TOTALLY UNAWARE The barge operator saw the child and was screaming from his cabin at the many people on the beach waiting to leave FI. The child saw the dingoes and ran, they were 6-8mth old pups, of course they chased, DERM ,shot an adult female and her 6-8mth pup (neither were involved in the “attack”) then shot 2 other dingoes hoping they got the right ones as no-one could identify the tags. The latest study by Alan Winton showed via DNA sequencing that dingoes have been in Australia for at least 15,500-18,000 yrs.They did not come here via asian fishermen-more likely over the land bridge. Dingoes are a curious animal , and having lived alongside man for many 1000’s of years have a different relationship to man than wolves ,coyotes etc. In the 90’s there were 400+dingoes on FI. Since DERM has been in control over 80% of dingoes have been shot or heartsticked. Currently there are only 20 breeding pairs left, comprising siblings breeding with each other, at 12mths old- this is a species in desperate need, almost extinct, over 500,000 tourists on the Island and no protection, tourists camping on dingo tracks, and then the animals are killed for being too close. The most recent incident was a pair of dingoes -he stole a book and she stole a tub of butter-DERM is looking for the female to shoot as she is now considered dangerous, the male is collared-so safe ATM. The truth is that tourism will bring about the extinction of FI dingoes within the next 18mths - 2 yrs. These dingoes are genetically unique to mainland dingoes-once they are gone there is no reintroduction.

    • Kika says:

      07:40am | 29/04/11

      I really feel sorry for the dingoes. They are just doing what dingoes do. Irresponsible people let their little daughter wander off and she gets bitten. It could have turned a lot more nastier than that. So the dingoes get in trouble for it, and the parents get off scot free. Ridiculous. If you go to Fraser Island you must remember 1) It is remote 2) It is a wilderness protected area 3) There are animals there who can hurt you and your children. All of this should be put in mind when travelling there.

      Indigenous people warned their children about ‘devil dogs’ so they wouldn’t wander off a nighttime or whistle in the dark. Not just on Fraser but most of the SE QLD area they were told about the dangers of going off alone.

      But alas, we ignore the wisdom of the original Australians and continue to carry out our business without giving a damn. And then you wonder why these things happen.

      Reply

    • Ted says:

      08:46am | 29/04/11

      So by wisdom you ACTUALLY mean fairy tails to scare the kids into compliance as used by all cultures. Secondly, there is so much physical evidence present that it is beyond doubt that the so called originals Australians were at best the THIRD
      Australians. When are Australians ever going to stand up to the Original Australian LIE?????????

    • John says:

      09:52am | 29/04/11

      Ted I would be interested in you citing a peer reviewed study which backs up your claim. You are just making this statement because you feel that this lie somehow makes our conquering of the aboriginals ok.

    • Wild Violet says:

      10:25am | 29/04/11

      lol - bloody hell Ted, who cares what number we are on the continent -dingoes bite! I dont think they care about what colour or what number inhabitant you are - or do you think that they are that smart?
      Awww go on with ‘ya! lol

    • Kika says:

      01:34pm | 29/04/11

      Get over it Ted… your insecurity about being part of the colonisers is obvious.

    • Kika says:

      01:38pm | 29/04/11

      Also Ted it wasn’t a fairy tale. It’s reality. Dingoes attack human children. Young children don’t understand rational thinking. They think on a primal need basis. If you rationalise with a kid about the dingoes being relatively harmless, but may attack on certain occasions I don’t think the message and danger would sink in as fast as calling them devil dogs, don’t you? I’m sure your parents told you the boogie man story.

    • Ted says:

      02:02pm | 29/04/11

      Skeletal remains found in Victoria on a dig by members of the Wollongong University predate the aboriginals and were definitely from a different group of humans as exhibited by the skull structure. You also have the Bradshaw rock paintings that show cultural dress, tools and boats that bear NO RELATIONSHIP to aboriginal culture and also predates aboriginals. Many aboriginal elders are on record saying this is not aboriginal and others put it down to dreamtime spirits. This has been documented in a book that came out about15+ years ago but the name of it escapes me. Sufficed to say the aboriginal black armband attached the author, called him racist, etc. Can’t upset the gravy train with the truth. John, Not for one second do I think that what happened to the aboriginals was ok, I do not however hold to the no blame black victim syndrome that is used to perpetuate lies and deceit. For example the whole stolen children saga that ignores what peoples intent was in relationship to its historical context and that in some communities, half cast children were treated lower than the camp dog and have openly expressed gratitude for being “stolen” only to be condemned by the aboriginal community.

      Wild Violet, in many ways spot on and yes dingos do bite J. My issue is, I hate the perpetuation of lies to protect a gravy train that reinforces a victim syndrome that condemns people to the hell they find themselves in.

    • Ted says:

      02:52pm | 29/04/11

      Kika, no insecurity here, just someone sick of lies. If you bother to look at the origins of many fairy tails they have a basis in fact or a warning. All I said was that to word it that they are wise just because they are aboriginals is plain stupid. Also if the people on had bothered to read the sign and other warns about the dingos they would have got the same message. As to the high and might diatribe describing the reason to relating the dingos to demons, well no sh*t Sherlock, that is the point of many fairy stories and the method of delivering a message/warning. Your victim syndrome is showing, or is it the black arm band?

    • Kika says:

      03:01pm | 29/04/11

      No, Ted. You critisised my point on the devil dogs as being fairy tales. I was merely trying to say that every culture uses fairy tales to educate children. Like Little Red Riding Hood - no sh*t sherlock there isn’t massive wolves going around eating Grannies, but it does warn kids about walking into the forest by themselves doesn’t it.

      Please, get over the ‘native’ thing. They were here longer than you were, so get over it. The dingoes and the Aboriginal people. Whether or not they were first, second, third who cares. They were here before us and know this country better than we do. My point was only that we should listen to what they say more as they know more than we do about how this country is.

    • Ted says:

      03:05pm | 29/04/11

      Sorry John, it is you that some how want to link the fact that the aboriginals are not the original inhabitants, to how they treated being ok, pretty pathetic really but I guess that is how you try to kill the messenger. I agree I have not given you the peer review, if you don’t want to take the clear leads to get the facts, you just shows your need not to challenge you paradigms.

    • Ted says:

      03:36pm | 29/04/11

      So Kika, it now seems that we are now in violent agreement that fairy tails is not an offensive dismissive word and is used by all cultures to portray a point to children. You are also absolutely correct that it does not make any difference if the aboriginals are the original or the third inhabitants and that is my point, they need to stop the lie of claiming the original inhabitant if they want credibility. Their holding on to a lie makes no difference to the fact that some find themselves in abject poverty, they still have some local knowledge yet to be discovered by “western civilization” and that they are fellow human beings that find themselves in a bind and require help.

    • Fiona says:

      04:01pm | 29/04/11

      Ok Kika so all us ‘newcomers’ will leave Australia and give it back to the Aborigines .... you go first!

      Geez when the hell am I, as a native born Aussie with family going back to 1825, going to be allowed to call this MY homeland too without all the associated guilt bullshit.

      And for the record my family were neither convicts, nor English! I’m starting to know how the bloody dingos must be feeling!

    • Nick says:

      08:33am | 29/04/11

      I think you are over romancing dingos.  They aren’t native or our version of the wolf - they’re just a feral dog that’s been here for a while.

      That aside I agree to some extent but I don’t know much about it.  For example I see very obvious parallels with bears in North America where they use a range of non-lethal management techniques and aversion treatments.  Killing the bear is seen as a last resort.  I have no idea whether similar approaches have been used on Fraser Island.  In the end any individual large predator that habitually attacks people is going to be killed and I have no problem with that, but I do think it shouldn’t be the first and only response.

      Reply

    • White Fella says:

      09:10am | 29/04/11

      @ Nick

      The Dingo is as native to this country as Aboriginals.  They both came here from somewhere else.

      Try telling a black fella they’re not a native Australian and see what happens.

    • Nick says:

      09:33am | 29/04/11

      That’s a false anaolgy WhiteFella.  Sure in strict biological terms Humans have dispersed all over the globe, but they have self-awareness and cultural ties to places that are unmatched by any other species.  Dingos aren’t people and if you can’t see the difference then I can’t help you.

    • Syl says:

      09:58am | 29/04/11

      Dingoes are not found anywhere else in the world, hell “purebred” dingoes are not found anywhere else other than FI, native or not we shouldnt be killing them off because of the stupidity of some people. 

      Ive spent a lot of time on Fraser island and it really isn’t that hard to maintain distance and safety from the Dingos, it just takes a little commonsense.  Perhaps if more people thought a little BEFORE letting their children run around unsupervised this wouldn’t be an issue.

    • Wynston Cruso says:

      11:40am | 29/04/11

      All dogs, feral or otherwise, are a version of the wolf. Genetics 101.

    • White Fella says:

      12:27pm | 29/04/11

      @ Nick

      “They aren’t native or our version of the wolf - they’re just a feral dog that’s been here for a while.”

      I must have missed the part where you mentioned self-awareness or cultural ties.

    • Kika says:

      01:45pm | 29/04/11

      Well, Nick they may not be wolves but they’ve been here longer than white people have been. And whether or not they are ‘native’ or not doesn’t matter. They are dangerous and should be treated as such. 
      People don’t take the threat of dingoes seriously enough. If you lived in the sunshine coast hinterland you would understand that they are nasty and would treat them with the respect they deserve!

    • Noogoora says:

      07:33pm | 30/04/11

      Not so, Nick. The dingo is canis lupus dingo - one of more than 20 sub-species of the gray wolf. It is most closely related to the Indian (or pale-footed) wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) and the Arabian wolf (Canis lupus arabs). You can see the whte socks (pallipes) in the dingo pic above. The dingo is quite distinct from domestic dogs (Canis faliliaris) and even with hybrids, the domestic influence seems to breed out fairly quickly (as you might expect because selection will still favour the wolf type).
      Read Laurie Corbett “The Dingo in Australia and Asia” and you will understand better. Corbett even refers to aboriginal accounts of the arrival of dingoes.Dingoes are not now, and never were, feral dogs.

    • Nick says:

      09:02pm | 01/05/11

      Noogoora - genetic evidence totally debunks what you have just written…dingos are a subset of domestic dogs Canis lupus familiaris (Canis familiaris isn’t recognized anymore).  Yes, they represent an earlyish off shoot, yes they appear to have been isolated for a few thousand years, yes they appear to have numerous features that adapt them to a wild existence and so they are interesting and retain a distinct subspecific epithet; but dingos are no more closely related to true wolves than a poodle.  It is pure romance to pretend otherwise.

    • Echosmum says:

      03:47pm | 21/02/12

      They ARE the Australian wolf Canis Lupis Dingo (Lupis as in WOLF)- NOT a dog Canis Familiaris. They have been here 18,000 years Nick. When the apex predator is removed from the environment cascading extinctions of other natives follow as mesopredators fill the void- this is happening Australia wide, loss of dingoes has been linked to mass destruction of most mammals due to mesopredator predation, even the loss of turtles is partially connected with 1080 drops in far Nth Qld.and subsequent dingo losses. Kill dingoes= more widl pigs=less turtle eggs as pigs eat all eggs found= less turtles & more jellyfish. Please get involved in the protection of our native animals before thay are gone.

    • EH says:

      08:39am | 29/04/11

      I’m confused by exactly what it is that you are suggesting? That it is unfair to treat dingoes this way because we don’t treat sharks that way and they really deserve to be culled more?
      I completely agree that it is ridiculous to kill animals responsible for attacks or to cull the species because of an attack when we are in their territory- particularly due to stupidity. Like the tracking and killing of ‘man-eater’ crocs after some idiot thought it might be a good idea to go swimming in crocodile infested water. I think it extend to all culls- we have chosen to make our home with these animals- so isn’t it integral that we learn to share the environment responsibly? To take precautions to prevent injuries and deaths and to accept those that do happen for exactly what they are- a tragic accident. Not the result of some animal with homicidal tendencies craving and targeting humans out of sheer malicious hate.

      Reply

    • Super D says:

      08:48am | 29/04/11

      I’d support a shark cull.  My theory, and I’m open to any contradicting evidence,  is that we are actually attracting sharks to coastal areas through the creation of marine sanctuaries while essentially strip mining offshore waters.  The sharks go where the food is and if that happens to be the bit where the people are too then c’est la vie.

      Reply

    • Rick says:

      08:59am | 29/04/11

      Nick not native?  A bit like the indigenos population ........just been here for a while.

      Reply

    • iansand says:

      09:10am | 29/04/11

      Dingoes arrived between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago.  And, incidentally, were responsible for the extinction of thylacines and Tassie devils on the mainland.

    • Kika says:

      03:06pm | 29/04/11

      And the Maori arrived in NZ 1000 years ago. So that makes them introduced right?

    • Jake says:

      03:29pm | 29/04/11

      Right Kika!

      Or when ‘white man’ has been here 1,000 years does Australia become ‘theirs’?

    • centurion48 says:

      09:04am | 29/04/11

      @thatmosis & @Wild Violet - brumbies are not native species. They are not ‘natural’ food for dingoes. I have no idea what dingoes ate before brumbies, or if they ever killed a live brumby, but I assume wallabies or smaller marsupials would be a better choice for re-introduction.

      @Nick - Your first statement is wrong (dingoes are more closely related to the wolf than to domestic dogs) but I agree with you that the management , and education of visitors to Fraser Island, should be similar to the bear in North America.
      If visitors think of them as dogs then there always will be a problem. If they were described as wolves then even the thickest of people would understand that they are wild animals that eat meat from whatever is the easiest source.
      I vote for less drongos and more dingoes.

      Reply

    • John Mikkelsen says:

      09:47am | 29/04/11

      Great comment, Centurion and to all those saying killing the dingo should not be the first option, I totally agree. Obviously relocation to the mainland should be no option at all.
      On the shark issue I was simply pointing out the difference in attitude shown by the authorities and the community at large. Killer sharks have frequently been seen off beaches where there have been fatal attacks particularly in WA but the attitude generally, even from the victim’s family in many cases, is that these are magnificent awesome creatures and we intrude in their territory fully aware of the risks. As a former diver I have seen many sharks in their own territory and have even seen large fish such as barramundi mingle with a school of bronze whalers in a futile attempt to escape man the predator. Never encountered a white pointer on their own turf though or I probably would not be writing this now.
      Awesome - sure. Deadly? Absolutely.
      Crocodiles too are spreading like cane toads so I just can’t comprehend the authority’s hang-up over Fraser Island dingoes.

    • Wild Violet says:

      10:41am | 29/04/11

      G’day centurion48,
      The Dingo or ‘Warrigal’ is widely distributed over the continent of Australia. However they can not be found in Tasmania. The Dingo is generally believed to have evolved from a domesticated version of the Asiatic wolf , or the Indian wild dog (dhole) which accompanied the ancestral aborigines in their early invasions of Australia. There is no evidence that the Dingo preceded aboriginal man.

      The Dingoes strong rear premolar teeth and the habit of silently hunting, are wolf-like characteristics , while its inability to bark indicates the primitive origin. However it does yelp and howl and can imitate the bark of the domestic dog - and put the wind clean up you when you are a kid camping out during cattle branding - sounds like a siren!
      Coming into camp, wandering around and pinching food.

      The wolf will not readily interbreed with the domestic dog, but the Dingo will do so. Had 1/2 dingo bitch, called her “ZAR” brilliant hunter, smart as and could maintain a speed of 60ks - up to 74ks an hour over 5 ks! Now that is a hunter!

      If taken when pups, Dingoes can be domesticated and the first recorded evidence of such was made by Captain Cook in 1770.In contrast to the domestic dog the Dingo breeds only once a year.

      Normal litters number approximately six and the gestation period is 63 days. We bread from our bitch, and due to the cross breeding her first litter was 19 pups! 5 died during / shortly after birth. She was 3 years of age before we bred from her.

      There is no criteria to identify a Dingo from the domestic dog, except perhaps, grey matter.

      Some say they can be distinguished by the number of teeth but this is not true. A domestic dog may have anything from 34 to 42 teeth, and this takes in the range of the Dingo.

      In fact, there has been no serious study of the Dingo. At the Inglewood Research Center things are about to change.

      Interesting observations have been made by the ranger, Jim Dabelstein:
      Dingoes have three basic colours - ginger, black and tan and white. Those bred at the center are from the ginger desert Dingo. To the best of the center’s knowledge that are pure-breds.
      In regards to the brumbies, agreed, they are not native, nor are dingoes - but then again, what constitutes native and non native when we all came from somewhere? Hmm..food for thought:)
      I have seen dingo packs - yes PACKS pull down calves and weaners, also circling the stockyards trying to get into the mares and foals, have no illusion people, they are very efficient killers, as they should be.
      But, I stick by my original post, get the tourists off Frazer Island, QNPWS and DERM want to manage “native species” well let them show all Australians / Queenslanders if they really can do it properly? Nah…they cant - one needs common-sense for that hey?

    • Nick says:

      11:58am | 29/04/11

      @Centurion48 - I’m a wildlife geneticist, reasonably familiar with the evolution of the dog family, and I have seen no evidence to support your statement but maybe you know something I don’t.

      The point about origins is moot anyway - the fact is that Australians aren’t familiar with sharing their space with medium to large terrestrial predators and I agree they need a change of attitude when they are in the presence of a large wild dog population.

    • Richard says:

      02:31pm | 29/04/11

      Wild Violet.  “Get the tourists off Frazer Island”.  Question, who’s allowed to visit Frazer Is then?  More importantly, who gets to say who gets to go or not?

    • Wild Violet says:

      09:40pm | 29/04/11

      Richard,
      “Wild Violet.  “Get the tourists off Frazer Island”.  Question, who’s allowed to visit Frazer Is then?  More importantly, who gets to say who gets to go or not?“No one should go on FI then, such a risk and who should have the final say on this?
      Why of course the people who tell us all what to do - our state government - lead by the real conservationists and the greens, who else?!
      There is no difference to farmers privately owned land being locked up (without compensation) for wildlife, with no one permitted to enter it - including the farmer in some instances, than what is happening on FI.
      I dont know, do you think people would think that this conservation of the species would be going to far? Or maybe one rule for privately owned land, and another for State land? Hm…interesting question isnt it?

    • Dieter Moeckel says:

      09:13am | 29/04/11

      Dingos have a history of less than 4 000 years in Australia, in my opinion not long enough to really become integrated into the Australian ecosystem. They are so far long term feral animals which will decimate or have decimated the native prey. As a feral they have, if vestigial relationship with man and did so with Aboriginal man. There are few reports of Dingos in early settlement “nature” studies and it would appear that their numbers have risen with colonisation. The relationship between Dingos and people on Frazer Island needs control. Perhaps a complete cull of the animals on Frazer would do the environment a lot of good. I cannot come to see the dingo as a legitimate “native” Australian animal - it just doesn’t fit the ecology. Calling the Dingo native is a bit like calling Rattus rattus a native after it arrived with the first fleet or before.

      Reply

    • Erick says:

      10:02am | 29/04/11

      The only criterion of whether or not a species “fits” a particular ecology is the survival of that species.

      Ecologies are dynamic, not static. Australia’s ecology has been changing radically since the arrival of the first humans Dingoes, rabbits and cane toads are part of it, like it or not. 

      There is no *definitive* Australian ecology - that’s just a product of human imagination.

    • Syl says:

      10:07am | 29/04/11

      They are more “native” than the tourists that visit, or the people that complain of attacks, or most of the people who live in the country.  I don’t understand why your solution involves basically killing an entire species (the FI dingoes are the last purebreeds in the world) when attacks are the result of negligence and stupidity. 

      It needs to be made crystal clear to tourists the risks involved and how to avoid them.  We shouldn’t just jump to a frothing at the mouth “Kill them all” response because of a few isolated incidents that could have easily been avoided.

    • Rick says:

      10:13am | 29/04/11

      So they have survived in this country for 4000 years…........at the rate humans are degading the enviroment they’ll be lucky to surrvive another 100 years. A bit like calling a dingo a rat I suppose.

    • Heywood says:

      09:21am | 29/04/11

      We all need to eat, one way or another. So we let sharks, crocodiles, poisonous snakes, erindangi jelly fish & spiders live, but the starving, skeleton dingo has to die, if unsupervised children get near. It looks like, there is just not enough food for the starving dingoes to eat, on an island of mainly sand. The answer is to allow enough food for them, so that they can eat properly, and you would not see them looking for food.

      Reply

    • Timmy says:

      09:32am | 29/04/11

      Living in the country many years ago, my friends dog got out one night and went and visited a local farmers paddock. There he found a sheep, and mauled it to death. It is said that once they get the taste for it, it is very difficult to stop them from going back. They sort of become sheep junkies. Sure enough, my mates dog got out again(despite being “secured”), and came back the next morning with a bullet wound. Despite this, the dog kept going back until the farmer’s aim improved. My mate paid the farmer for five dead sheep.

      I wonder if this concept could not also be in the minds of those who sought to destroy the dingo in question ...... after all, in the wise words of King Julian of Madagascar “It’s true, we are all just steak!”

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      09:58am | 29/04/11

      I’m happy to extend rights to any animal capable of exercising the requisite level of responsibility that is an essential counter balance to all implicit freedoms.
      It’s a curious coincidence that as humans find new justifications for avoiding responsibility for their actions, there is a growing push for “animal rights. It is no a coincidence that this push comes from a certain proportion of the community much given to delusional extremist lunacy.

      Reply

    • Dazeddazza says:

      10:29am | 29/04/11

      Well said Peter, personal responsibility takes a back seat again.

    • IanJ says:

      12:37pm | 29/04/11

      Yes, some people should never be allowed to leave city and suburbia; except for work and occasional visits to places like the Gold Coast.

    • Bindi says:

      10:16am | 29/04/11

      They are introduced animals that eat people alive. Little children are very vunerable as they are cunning and hunt in packs. This is only a power game. Without a given food source they must be eating all the smaller animals that are indigenous to this island. Soon we will have very few lizards small marsupials left over there. What will that do to the ecology???? Cull the pests.

      Reply

    • Wayne Kerr says:

      10:45am | 29/04/11

      But if the little children are cunning and hunt in packs, wouldn’t that make them less vulnerable?

    • Timmy says:

      10:58am | 29/04/11

      I have always thought kids to be pests, but culling them?

    • Adam says:

      11:26am | 29/04/11

      Timmy, it’s not culling kids that’s the problem. It’s qualifing for the licence to take part in the cull thats difficult

    • Bindi says:

      01:09pm | 29/04/11

      Get your point everyone. Give me a break. I’m thinking very hard for an excuse. Typographical error maybe???? Oh! buggar. That’s why you should always proof read your work carefully. Oh my goodness, is their another typo in here. Anyway the point is I would not like to see another child hurt by the dingoes They is a reference to dingoes even though it may have been read differently

    • John Mikkelsen says:

      04:00pm | 29/04/11

      Bindi as generation X-Y would say re your replies, TIC and LOL. But maybe they didn’t think you could be serious that killing the dingoes is a better solution than minding the kids.

    • J says:

      06:28pm | 29/04/11

      Definitely start culling children. They are cunning and they do hunt in packs. Dingos do not hunt in packs. Dogs do (domesticated dogs gone wild and feral). Dingoes are solitary and at best hunt with their mate. The Fraser Island dingoes are the last remaining bastion of pure-bred dingoes. They are an ancient breed and should be preserved. Remove the humans; protect the environment; protect the dingoes. Simple solution. Too bad we have gutless governments who only look to the next election, not to the future. What do we want our children and our children’s children [hose that are not culled for being cunning and hunting in packs wink ] to inherit?? Will there be any animals left in Australia within 50 years from now? Between dingo culls on Fraser, and the viscious eviction of fruit bats from all so-called public parks (public only for those that aren’t the native inhabitants), we will soon have nothing to leave our children except a vast urban sprawl.

    • Wild Violet says:

      09:44pm | 29/04/11

      J,
      mate you are wrong, Dingos will and do hunt in packs. Ever been on a horse and had a pack try and pull you down? Scary as buddy let me tell you!
      When they are hungry, anything goes, they are wild animals, and dingos are damn smart.

    • michael j says:

      09:59am | 30/04/11

      indeed Dingo’s are cunning killers,i have been waiting for said dingo’s to apologise to lindy and the NT government but none is forthcoming,,they are arrogant cunning killers with no remorse,should one or two dingo’s be held responsibly for a Whole species, Yes,they should be exterminated,,,,

    • Wild Violet says:

      10:52am | 02/05/11

      michael j,
      I dont think dingo’s should be “exterminated” . However they are wild animals. They are “killers” er..that is what they do! However what species of prey do they prefer, is an entirely different topic for discussion.
      Quite right, should one or two be held responsible for a whole “species” being tarred with the “one brush” of course not.
      The point of John Mikkelsens article is of course to encourage debate, given the area of FI - why do people have to go there at all?
      Fraser Island stretches over 123 kilometres in length and 22 kilometres at its widest point. With an area of 184 000 hectares it is the largest sand island in the world.

      Fraser Island’s World Heritage listing ranks it with Australia’s Uluru, Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef. Fraser Island is a precious part of Australia’s natural and cultural heritage, it is protected for all to appreciate and enjoy.

      Fraser island is a place of exceptional beauty, white beaches, coloured sand cliffs, over 100 freshwater lakes, some tea-coloured and others clear and blue all ringed by white sandy beaches. Ancient rainforests grow in sand along the banks of fast-flowing, crystal-clear creeks.

      Fraser Island is the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on sand dunes at elevations of over 200 metres. The low “wallum” heaths on the island are of particular evolutionary and ecological significance.
      They are a continuous record of climatic and sea level changes over the last 700 000 years. The highest dunes on the island reach up to 240 metres above sea level. (dont tell the AGW fellas though, they will say that their science disputes this - its all humans fault you know!)

      The Great Sandy Strait, separating Fraser Island from the mainland, is listed by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention). Sound familiar with anyone? Hm?

      The wetlands include: rare patterned ferns; mangrove colonies; sea-grass beds; and up to 40,000 migratory shorebirds. Rare, vulnerable or endangered species include dugongs, turtles, Illidge’s ant-blue butterflies and eastern curlews.
      So bottom line is, keep the people off the Island, and let the dingo’s do what they do - eat, breed and die…thats life smile
      http://www.fraserisland.net/

    • John Graham says:

      10:59am | 29/04/11

      Just a pedantic point.  The Australian dingo is not a species.  It is a variety of a subspecies or taxon of the Grey Wolf, Canis lupus.  It migrated to Australia as a domesticated dog with humans, and hence is an introduced species.  There are other varieties of dingo in south-east Asia and New Guinea, such as the New Guinea Singing Dog and the Thai Dog.  Whether you consider it native to Australia depends entirely on your definition of native - to my mind it is more like the cane toad, horse (including brumbies) and German cockroach than the swamp wallabies, echidnas, ringtail and brushtail possums, sugar gliders, squirrel gliders, phascogales, bandicoots, potoroos, and fruit bats which are the other large fauna found on Fraser Island.

      Reply

    • Dieter Moeckel says:

      11:27am | 29/04/11

      Agreed, agreed, agreed John Graham. I’ve not had much experience with pure breed Dingos but I certainly have experience with feral pigs, feral water bufallo, feral equines and feral camels all of which I’d gladly cull to remnant populations or domestic populations.
      Now foxes and cats need to be exterminated. The number of birds and poultry I have lost to these pests makes them absolutely unwanted. Now I’ve also lost birds to snakes and goannas but they are native and I try hard to protect them while protecting my avian stock.
      I don’t want any animal killed for whatever reason but there must be some kind of control. The best I think is sterilisation - and that could apply to humans too I guess.
      One thing though Peter - why immediately attack people with comments like “delusional extremist left?” Does that permit me to call you a “mentally deranged extremist right wing dick cranium? I think not and wouldn’t do it.

    • Nick says:

      12:04pm | 29/04/11

      I strongly agree - there is a romance around the dingo that is entirely unsupported by any available genetic evidence.  What value you place on it depends on your point of view but I think facts matter.  Personally, as a genetic relict and long term naturalized invasive species I think they are interesting and worth preserving.

    • Kika says:

      01:59pm | 29/04/11

      Well, dingoes survived and did little damage to our environment prior to European civilisation. We came along and lo and behold WE upset the natural balance and then problems start. Like another guy said, the Maori have only been in NZ for 1000 years. That’s less than how long dingoes have been here. Who or what is more native than the other?

    • Ms Lulu says:

      11:08am | 29/04/11

      Over the past 26 years I have spent a lot of time camping on Fraser Island with a baby and I also traveled with that baby through Arnhem Land, Cape York and Remote area’s of the Kimberley’s. Never once was my son in danger from being attacked from a Dingo, Crocodile or shark. I watched him the whole time he never wandered off and he also learnt about the dangers as he grew up travelling around the country. Supervise your children. Who lets a three year old wander off not only where there are Dingos but also water. Im glad the little girl is ok but Parent supervise your children and take responsibility .

      Reply

    • Anne71 says:

      12:49pm | 29/04/11

      Ms Lulu, if only more parents were as sensible and responsible as you.  Unfortunately, far too many seem to think that constant vigilance and supervision of their small children is far too boring, especially when it cuts into their socialising or television watching.
      To be fair,  in this case the father said he did not blame the poor dingoes, as it was their territory.  Didn’t save the poor things from being shot, though. If people can’t be bothered to supervise their small children in places like that then perhaps NPWS should impose a minimum age - no child under the age of, say, seven is to be taken onto the island. Unfortunately, that would be very unfair on parents like Ms Lulu who are prepared to keep an eye on their kids.

    • Govt@FauxCitizen says:

      11:09am | 29/04/11

      EASY !!! the poor dingoes are starving now after we killed off all the goats and brumbies,,, so why don’t we just release some rabbits or hares, canetoads give them indigestion !!!!!

      Reply

    • Ms Lulu says:

      11:16am | 29/04/11

      I would also like to add that I spoke to our local “Greens” candidate at the last election about why dont you start a program of breeding bush rats and bandicoots to be put on the island as a food source for the dingos. She was horrified at the though and not only that she said she doesnt know much about the Island !! They took the Brumbies off the island which was a food source but apparently they did to much damage to the Island. Not as much damage as Humans do !

      Reply

    • Govt@FauxCitizen says:

      11:32am | 29/04/11

      Hey John you forgot to mention that we do hunt down killer sharks and crocs, difference here is, I nevever heared of anyone letting a toddler swim in open water or muddy tidal creeks. This dingo episode reminded me of an e-mail I got around January wich was about Peter Garret addressing a group of farmers concerned with dingo numbers and ever increasing stock losses, he announced that a sterelising hormone would be introduced to the dingo population, when one of the farmers popped up and appropriately said “I don’t think you understand our problem Mr.Garret,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, you see it’s like this, the dingoes aren’t fuckin our sheep . the’re eatin em”

      Reply

    • John Mikkelsen says:

      12:39pm | 29/04/11

      Hi Govt@Fauxy, good joke, but… there is a difference. With killer croks they are caught, maybe sent to a vet who gives them something so he can examine the stomach contents. If it’s nothing but fish and the odd rock, they are let loose. If they find a foot in a shoe, or a missing bloke’s wallet, they are packed off to as a stud to a croc farm. Problem crocs near populated areas are captured and relocated and make their own way back to home territory. And how many killer sharks are actually “hunted down”? Very few, I would hazard a guess. Also what’s “native” when it comes to the sea? Do the sharks which regularly chomp on humans in Tasmanian, SA and WA waters originate there, or off South Africa, California or South America?

    • Govt@FauxCitizen says:

      09:28pm | 29/04/11

      Hey John, I know what happens to problem crocs and I’m glad for that too,  on “hunting down” of course I was speaking metaphorically, their numbers are getting to be an issue in some areas where white humans gather for R & R, watch this space. The point I was trying to make here is, Fraser Island is well known for it’s cheeky dingoes who regularly steal bait, fish, and lunches,  in my day dingo was a slang word for a coward and nothing has changed I had never heard of a dingo that attacked a human of any age until 1980 Ayers Rock Child ,Fatal .2001 Fraser Island Child, Fatal 2007 Fraser Island Child, Maulled/ Bitten, the obvious has to be stated if adults are going to take their children with them to these spots where dingoes have habituated then they do need to spray them with dingo repellant or just plain keep them close by AT ALL TIMES. By the way, the Peter Garret dingo joke is no joke it really happend apparently.

    • Bitten says:

      11:33am | 29/04/11

      Heavens forbid the parents take some responsibility. But that’s parents for you: Waah, someone forced me to have a baby and I can’t be held responsible for its safety!

      Reply

    • Baby of the bonus says:

      02:23pm | 29/04/11

      Costello has a lot to answer for.
      Have one for the nation and one for the road.

    • fairsfair says:

      03:41pm | 29/04/11

      I agree. You go camping on an island inhabited by Dingoes - which are continually publicised as dangerous - and you let your little kid wander off into sand dunes?

      Cue the - you don’t know what it is like to have a kid crap. Piss off! You take a kid camping, you watch it 100% of the time - because if you don’t , this stuff happens. It ain’t rocket surgery.

      As for that “artist” who fed them last year - she deserved to have the book thrown at her. It is up there with that Timothy whatshisname who was friends with the bears. A select bunch of idiots in this world seek out trouble and then when something happens to them we all have to respond - no we don’t - the parents are the only ones to blame here. Irrespective of circumstance (like I was having a pee or getting dinner ready) - they put their child in a dangerous situation and failed to protect it, but I am sure they already know that.

    • Laughing Les says:

      11:35am | 29/04/11

      Why fence in dingoes when they should be fencing in the visitors? If people cannot stop feeding them, then it is a matter of stopping visitors or fencing them in. Let the dingo run free. At least this way kids would be safe.

      The trouble is that most visitors to Frazer are city slickers, who really leave common sense at home. The bush has many nasties that city folk tend to ignore until something happens. That’s is just the thing about Australia.

      Reply

    • Dieter Moeckel says:

      11:39am | 29/04/11

      Erik - I disagree there is a definitive Australian ecology and its based around marsupials - no felines and few large carnivores.
      You mention survival as a criterion - rats, carp, trout, Indian minors, sparrows, pigeons, cane toad, cats and foxes for example survive but are still not part of the natural or pre-introduction ecology and devastate the native animals population.
      Please don’t mention domestic animals as an example - we tend to control them as best we can. I’m concerned about ferals and introductions.
      There is an argument that we should introduce all animals to all ecosystems and just let them work it out - Should we include in that all viruses and bacteria?
      Would you suggest an introduction of snakes to Hawai’i?

      Reply

    • John Mikkelsen says:

      11:58am | 29/04/11

      Nah, centurion48 said it best. More dingoes, less drongos. If they are not “native” animals after 4000 or 10,000 years then I guess the Aboriginies are not indigenous Australians and the Maoris are not indigenous New Zealanders and based on that argument (which I don’t condone) then their rights to land as the original owners should never have been an issue. Crazy thought.
      Give the dingoes a break, they are not cane toads, it’s we humans who need more controls and don’t use the “not native” claim as a case for their eradication.

      Reply

    • Kika says:

      01:51pm | 29/04/11

      Excellent point. Maoris have been in New Zealand for only 1000 years which is a lot less than how long dingoes have been here. The point about them being native or not is irrelevant. They were important to the Indigenous people who brought them here and they’ve been here much longer than any white population has been. They managed to survive alongside the native fauna well until the Europeans arrived. We destroyed their environment and so the issues began.  They’ve been on Fraser as long as the Indigenous people have, so when humans mix with the dingoes there are problems. Like I said earlier the Indigenous people warned their kids about the dangers of walking off alone or with friends, especially at night. It’s about time we did the same.

      The thing I don’t understand is that people don’t get that they are not normal dogs! They are crafty, quiet on their feet and are as sneaky as a fox. They’ll sneak up on you before you even know they are there. That’s why the Australian Cattle Dog was bred with the dingo to get the swiftiness on their feet so they can round up cows better. With further breeding and generations most of the dingo genetics was bred out, but they still have that craftiness from the dingoes.

    • Edward James says:

      12:02pm | 29/04/11

      Make it an adults only holiday resort! See how that goes for a few years!

      Reply

    • Bikinis On Top says:

      12:26pm | 29/04/11

      Give a free dingo from Australia as a gift to the royal sock puppets who marry tonight.

      Reply

    • Jay-ded says:

      01:59pm | 29/04/11

      Halve the island with a dingo fence.

      Reply

    • Glen says:

      02:02pm | 29/04/11

      So long as people eat meat I think it fair to say that predators have the right to be expected to prey on people in their natural environment. This is why I don’t swim at the beach in the case of sharks. IT IS THEIR TERRITORY. Sure the beach looks nice, but if you are not willing to risk being eaten then don’t go in there. If you can’t look after your kids, for example due to mum or dad’s “Facebook time”, and they get eaten, then too bad!

      Reply

    • Mark W says:

      02:07pm | 29/04/11

      They are only wild dogs and if they learn to hunt a particular animal they will continue to hunt that particular animal, and if that animal is a human child they will hone their skills till they hunt successfully. Therefore these particular animals needed to be put down, one so as not to teach other wild dogs that particular hunting skill and two not to kill children. Native wild dogs are in abundance on Fraser Is. A few less will not endanger the species. Articles like this do damage by humanising the animals and create further problems, by causing Governments to be hesitant when a cull is needed. Culls are needed for many reasons, one is too many of one species can over populate therefore putting other competing species in danger of extinction, two the spread of disease and starvation and three the threat to farming. The crow and the fruit bat are examples of animals that are protected to the point where they are causing smaller less competitive animals in to extinction, the crow being master nest raiders and in the case of fruit bats the spread of viruses across the mainland which the Government knows will cause and immense problem in the future. It’s up to us to manage the animal population, and we should do it with a common sense approach which sometimes may seem heartless, however as the old saying goes, you have to be cruel to be kind.

      Reply

    • peter says:

      04:04pm | 29/04/11

      Spot on Mark. There are many who fail to understand or have rejected the premise that everywhere is the “natural” habitat of the human being. “Nature” endowed us with a brain that can take us into outer space. It would be therefore unnatural to suppress our capabilities in regards to the world’s largest sand island.
      Ultimately it’s not a question of humans trespassing on the habitats of others. Everywhere is the natural habitat of humans. It’s just another case of irresponsible parents and idiot governments who create new problems in their attempts to solve old ones.

    • Luke says:

      02:08pm | 29/04/11

      I love it - we go into their environment, get bitten and put them down???
      How the hell does that make sense?
      We are no more important than dingos, sharks, crocs or whatever it is we choose to kill because they have maimed or killed one of us.  If we go into their environment then be prepared to live with the consequences.  I know that all too well as a person who loves the ocean - i have stated to my NOK’s that if a shark was to take me then don’t hunt it.  On the other hand if a dingo comes knocking on my door…

      Reply

    • Mark W says:

      02:29pm | 29/04/11

      By your way of thinking you would rate a fly or ant equally to that of a human; surely you can see how stupid that is. Human life especially that of a child will always be much more important than any other life form.

    • Colin says:

      04:38pm | 29/04/11

      Luke, it makes sense because the safety and wellbeing of a human life is more important than the life of any other animal. Simple really.

      And why do you claim Fraser Island to be “their [Dingos] environment” as if they have some greater claim to it than do human beings? The whole world belongs to humans, and Fraser Island would have been settled by humans long before any Dingo set foot on its sandy beaches.

    • Luke says:

      08:36pm | 29/04/11

      No, that is not what i said Mark.  My way of thinking is the ants or flys life is just as important to it as our life is to ours, and why do we think we can take their life?  Why do we think we are so special compared to every other animal on earth when we are just the same.  Human children are very important, agreed, but there is no need to kill a dingo when a child walked into where it normally lives and it attacked it.
      “their environment” is a general term, not specific to fraser island, you made that distinction.

    • Criminologist says:

      02:08pm | 29/04/11

      I have seen forensic evidence which seems to clearly indicate Azaria Chamberlain was stabbed to death.

      Reply

    • John Mikkelsen says:

      03:44pm | 29/04/11

      Go tell Bones or CSI. No fiction here, but I guess some will never accept the fact Lindy was exonerated.

    • Wild Violet says:

      03:47pm | 29/04/11

      We had a dog named “ZAR” guess what it was short for?

    • Cam says:

      04:03pm | 29/04/11

      And yet Lindy was freed ... that ‘seems to indicate’ that she was not guilty.

    • Jake says:

      04:22pm | 29/04/11

      Not one guilty person has ever been acquitted by the judicial system have they?  Naive much?

    • Jake says:

      04:25pm | 29/04/11

      ‘I guess’ if you haven’t seen the evidence, then you aren’t really in a position to make an assessment.

    • CJ Morgan says:

      04:37pm | 29/04/11

      Clearly, a dingo stabbed Azaria to death.

    • Beejay says:

      04:50pm | 29/04/11

      Criminologist,
      That is absolute garbage.  There is no such evidence and Lindy Chamberlain did not cause the death of her baby Azaria.
      Could you produce that evidence?

    • Criminologist says:

      05:31pm | 29/04/11

      Beejay,

      What is your position based on?  How do you reach your determination?

      ‘Could I produce that evidence?’

      Oh, of course I could,  the Police often give out evidence from criminal trials to members of the public.

    • Criminologist says:

      05:35pm | 29/04/11

      Cam/Beejay,

      I never mentioned Lindy Chamberlain.

    • BK says:

      03:40pm | 29/04/11

      Ever heard of shark nets or drum lines?  If that’s not a random cull of animals that “didn’t specifically eat any babies”, then I don’t know what is!

      Reply

    • Mikko says:

      04:09pm | 29/04/11

      Sure BK, along with the odd migrating whale, sea turtles and porpoises. Has to be a better way. But do they have those nets or drum lines in SA, Tassie or WA? (Serious question, not having a shot.)

    • BK says:

      10:55pm | 29/04/11

      I’m not sure what the current practice is down that way… but I found an article from the Adelaide Now website from 2009, claiming shark nets kill around 300 seals every year.

    • John Mikkelsen says:

      09:25am | 30/04/11

      About a week ago there was a TV news item quoting South Australian fishermen saying great whites were in near plague proportions (off Port Lincoln I think) and greatly reducing their catch.

    • Bindi says:

      04:03pm | 29/04/11

      All very interesting but the dingoes are not being fed as they were. They obviously see humans, especially a smaller one as legitimate prey. No, not their fault but I could not live with myself if I did not condemn their existence and a child was eaten, alive from the tail(for want of a better word) to the stomach. Forget excuses about parents, Dna and the rest of the hubbub. A short lapse in parental responsibility could see the death, a horrible, horrible death of an adult or child who has no means to protect themselves. As far as being pure bred I find this ridiculous. Timbergetters and holiday makers have been taking their pet dogs over there for over a hundred year. Get rid of the dingoes or the people. I prefer a dingo cull if humans stay as I would think a shot in the head would be much kinder than being eaten alive.Protect the children.

      Reply

    • MrsM says:

      04:56pm | 29/04/11

      Bindi that’s two deaths in 31 years caused by dingoes and you want to wipe them out? Fair crack of the whip, what’s your stand on brown snakes, taipans, black snakes, crocodiles, sharks, flying foxes (might have lyssavirus virus) horses (ditto and they buck), domestic dogs, cats. No one wants to see kids or adults for that matter attacked by any animal but that is not a reasonable solution.
      Oh I forgot the inanimate killers like cars, trucks, trains, bikes. You want to shoot them all?

    • cashcow says:

      05:17pm | 29/04/11

      A dingo’s taken my baby…

      Yeah, right.
      I will believe this when you can show me any dog that can take a baby out of a jumpsuit without ripping it to shreds.

      What should have been said was… A Lindy has taken my baby.

      Save the Dingo.

      Reply

    • Wild Violet says:

      05:57pm | 29/04/11

      Oh cashcow,
      I did put an earlier reply, however the Punch moderators have seen fit not to put it up, however, we had a 1/2 dingo female dog (lol) should would make a small incision in the side of a rabbit and eat the damn thing, pulling with her paws to make the hole just big enough to pull out the flesh.
      A bonds jumpsuit would not be a problem I can assure you!

    • cashcow says:

      09:59pm | 29/04/11

      Wild, the jump suit “supposedly had a few fang marks, no hole big enough to “suck” a baby thru.

      I had a Siberian that would pick mandarins, peel them & eat the fruit, but not once did she ever leave the skin on.

    • Wild Violet says:

      11:36pm | 29/04/11

      “I had a Siberian that would pick mandarins, peel them & eat the fruit, but not once did she ever leave the skin on.” and I bet you had a friend that no one else could see too? ! Smart arse - more fool you smile
      “Wild, the jump suit “supposedly had a few fang marks, no hole big enough to “suck” a baby thru.” - Cashcow, think about what you are writing, once the head of a child is bitten off, there is certainly a big hole there - nothing would be torn, the dog would literally put its paws on it it and pull the soft material back , jumpsuits are very soft and able to be stretched, further, those press studs on them come apart easily when pressure is applied- dont tell me you have never seen a dog ripping meat off a bone and using its paws to either hold the bone in its place while it ripped with its teeth?
      Dingos generally are specialist killers. In other words they like particular parts of a carcass to eat.
      Usually the heart or kidneys - certainly not limited to those, however just an example. Quite often will leave the rest of the carcass to predominately rot (eating only about a 1/4 of it) and then kill again.
      Its amazing what real life experiences can teach you, then again there is always an armchair expert on every subject who has to have the last say - wouldnt you agree? smile

    • Barry says:

      05:18pm | 29/04/11

      There used to be a lovely little wallaby (unidentified) that existed on Fraser until dingo numbers were allowed to rise with scavenging from tourists during the 80s. That wallaby now appears to be a totally extinct species. Reduce dingo numbers to a viable level for the natural prey on the island and allow the remaining swamp wallabies to survive.
      The dingos cannot lose their food association with humans while fish frames and bits of pilchard litter the beaches. To think that they will lose that association is laughable. Either drop the policy or prevent bait fishing and enforce frame disposal methods - and deeper than 500mm would be a good idea also.

      Reply

    • the whisperer says:

      08:54pm | 29/04/11

      Poor cashcow…..She wallows in her hatred. How sad. Azalia didn’t die from her mother’s actions, a dingo took her. What poor cashcow has trouble with is believing that the corrupt police could be wrong. They wanted to be seen as stars on the criminal solving scene. And they were wrong, and seen, (by rational, reasonable people), to be wrong. Which leaves you and the rest of the weirdos out in the cold. And you have my sympathy for being ill. Why on earth would you say, with all of the forensic evidence against you that the lady was guilty. Or perhaps you can see where you think she was coming from because you have the thoughts you ascribe to her about your own children. Bit of a nuisance are they?

      Reply

    • Dallas Beaufort says:

      01:06am | 30/04/11

      Green labors zero population targets are real

      Reply

    • undertow says:

      08:54am | 30/04/11

      Originally suspected to be a great white, it is widely believed by experts that the attacks of 1916 in New Jersey happen to be that of the deadliest shark (in human terms) in the ocean… the bull shark.

      Just saying.

      Reply

    • Mikko says:

      11:37am | 30/04/11

      Yes undertow I’ve heard that too and some of the attacks occurred miles up a stream, which is a trait of bull sharks. They have been caught way up in freshwater reaches of the Brisbane River and will readily attack in knee deep water, which rules out one comment which said parents don’t let kids swim in the open ocean so sharks aren’t much of a risk. Hollywood made a movie of those 1916 attacks too, called Twelve Days of Terror I think, More realistic than Jaws.

    • trent says:

      02:05pm | 30/04/11

      They are an introduced animal to Australia and should be destroyed. Just like the brumbies years ago.

      Reply

    • marley says:

      10:17am | 01/05/11

      Man is an introduced animal as well.  What plans do you have for us?

    • Soames says:

      03:16pm | 30/04/11

      5- 1/2 out of 10 Mr Mikkelsen. You start off with dingos and end up with sharks. You’re not paying attention old man! Best of luck nevertheless.

      Reply

    • John Mikkelsen says:

      05:33pm | 30/04/11

      Funny that Soames, thought I mentioned predators in the sea in the third paragraph. Those dingoes must be good swimmers hey?

    • stephen says:

      06:48pm | 30/04/11

      Great Whites, crocodiles, dingoes and all manner of furry things : if we can adapt to a changing envoirnment, (and this is one of the great tenents of Capitalism) then why do we suppose that things which have survived a million years, can’t.
      Don’t feel too sorry for the dogs : we smell just like they do when we rot.

      Reply

    • Marie Sarjeant says:

      10:07am | 21/02/12

      Well written John John Mikkelsen.
      The Jury is not yet out on the dingo and Chamberlains.
      That the Azaria case, has now been dredged up again,is bizarre sensationalist media reporting. I thought we had outgrown this type of headlines since the 80’s apparently not, some of us live in the 21st century some don’t!? Please note for future generations the dingoes may well be only seen in Zoo’s because of your grandparents apathy and ignorance. 30 years on the dingo is still the most persecuted animal in Australia, and being the top predator and having a valuable place in the ecosystem this is disappointing journalism. A serious attack by a dingo on a child has only been proven once in the history of European occupation. There were no reported attacks on aboriginal children. Dingo Attacks on humans Wikipedia web page updated Dec 2011 “Dingo attacks in Australia on humans are rare, but are known to happen….........  The danger depends to a large degree on how humans behave towards the dingoes” !? The problem here is that it is the environment, the flora and fauna, especially the iconic dingoes, which have had to make all the concessions. What is the difference between a snake and a dingo? None! They are both animals and as animals follow their instincts.
      Is this a reopening of the Chamberlain case for the 4th time a case of “My mind is made up don’t confuse me with facts” ?  The Azaria case is a tragedy that should now be laid to rest, and we should move on to help preserve and protect Australian’s unique valuable irreplaceable wild life or do we want again have another Tasmanian tiger scenario?
      Marie TEWANTIN

      Reply
 
Comment

Facebook Recommendations

Read all about it

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

Anthony Sharwood

antsharwood 28 May 12 12:01AM

#markwebber just wasted petrol faster than everyone else in monaco #f1

Anthony Sharwood

antsharwood 27 May 12 10:49PM

In my sports column on The Punch tomorrow: why Eurovision was easily the best game on the weekend. Mummy bloggers, you'll like this one!

Daniel Piotrowski

drpiotrowski 27 May 12 10:12PM

The Logies could learn a lot from Eurovision #lamethings#sbseurovision

Daniel Piotrowski

drpiotrowski 27 May 12 10:03PM

RT @ellehardytweets: Already despondent about the next fifty one weeks. #sbseurovision

See all tweets

Recent posts

The latest and greatest

Abbott’s crass logic: trash the Parliament in order save it

by David Penberthy

180

Abbott’s crass logic: trash the Parliament in order save it

An email was sent to almost every politician in Australia this week saying that someone should cut off…

Our special forces don’t always need special treatment

by Paul Toohey

27

Our special forces don’t always need special treatment

We admire them, but we’re not entirely sure why. We allow them to operate in the shadows; we rarely…

A good holiday is about unrest, not rest

by Angela Mollard

3

A good holiday is about unrest, not rest

Like a fat full-stop, it lay in my hand. A small orange – not exactly fresh, but purchased anyway…

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

Michael S says:

"A teacher at Geelong Grammar had criticised her for using words that were too long, which had left her confused and had made her doubt her ability to write essays. She became ''quite distressed'' when her English marks began to fall." I can sympathise. My scholastic mentors conveyed to me a causal relationship… [read more]

From: Welfare for breeders is a bonus for everyone

Change Up! says:

I have no problem paying my taxes. As a single, childless person on a very decent income, I can afford it and not have my life severely altered. Plus I understand that my taxes paying for things like schools, childcare and infrastructure is ultimately a good thing. A better community is better for me… [read more]

Light weight

Gentle jabs to the ribs

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

A private school girl’s family is sueing her elite, extremely expensive private school for not… Read more

243 comments

Newsletter

Read all about it

Sign up to the free daily Punch newsletter

Subscribe to The Punch RSS feed