Dingo Ecology deserves respect on Fraser Is
Fraser Island Dingo
[Source: ^http://widebaygreens.org/fraser-island/]
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‘The dingo population on (Fraser) island is regarded as the most pure strain of dingoes remaining in eastern Australia’.
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‘Dingoes were once common on the island, but are now decreasing. They are some of the last remaining pure dingoes in Eastern Australia and to prevent cross-breeding, dogs are not allowed on the island. There was no recorded history of dingoes attacking humans on Fraser Island up until 1995.
In April 2001, a boy wandered away from his family and was discovered dead, with indications of a dingo attack. Thirty-one dingoes were killed by authorities as a result of the incident. In 2004, a dingo entered a hotel room on the island where a baby was lying on a bed. It was chased off before any incident occurred. Feeding or attracting the attention of dingoes remains illegal.
The remaining number of dingoes on the island is estimated to be 120 to 150 as of January 2008 and sightings are becoming rarer.’
[Source: ^http://widebaygreens.org/fraser-island/].
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Need to Control Humans
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Given the recent history of parental negligence on Fraser Island, has it got to the point of mandating an ‘Adults Only’ responsible presence on Fraser Island?
Such a respectful ecological policy would ensure that only responsible human adults share and respect Fraser Island without risking more starving dingos to be shot in some twisted vengeance by so-called ‘wildlife officers’.
Australia’s national disgrace – starving dingos cornered on their native Fraser Island
[Source: ^http://www.care2.com/news/member/525884267/1440667]
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What is the Queensland Government’s latest brand name for its agency responsible for Fraser Island’s supposed World Heritage values? – ‘Department of Environmental Resource Management‘ – who’s flaming resource? Is Queensland still redneck about tourism revenue and exploitation of this World Heritage tourism brand?.
Dingos are wild Australian animals.
Why haven’t Australian tourists learnt from Australia’s Azaria Lesson that children and wildlife don’t mix?
“The Fraser Island Dingo is believed to be the purest strain of Dingo on the East Coast of Australia. It is illegal to feed or touch the Dingoes as it causes the animals to become “humanised”. There have been recorded instances of Dingoes attacking humans with the fatal attack of a 9 year old boy. This is not a regular occurence and if people are aware of the danger then these instances can be minimised.”
[Source: ^http://ozmagic2.homestead.com/dingo.html]
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Need to Restore Dingo Ecology on Fraser Island
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The problem of the health, viability and survivability of Fraser Island Dingos is a joint responsibility of the Queensland Government and Australian Government.
Why the deliberate slaughter of dingos by the very Government agency charged with Fraser Island’s ecological integrity: ‘Department of Environmental Resource Management‘?
‘The recent slaughter of a very large number of one of the last genetically pure populations of dingoes in Australia (on Fraser Island) has prompted an overwhelming call by our member organisations to press for better protection for dingoes, both from acts of State-sanctioned cruelty and from the extreme and urgent threat of extinction.’
[Source: ^http://www.awpc.org.au/other_fauna/dingo1.htm]
Starved dingo pup found on Fraser Island
Photo by local resident Judy Daniel, 2010
[Source: ^http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/30/2859757.htm]
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Further Reading:
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The Australian Dingo (or ‘Warrigal’) – a species deserving protection
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^http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/24/2400546.htm
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Dingos are wild native animals
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[3] ‘Girl, 3, bitten by dingo at Fraser Island‘, ^ girl-3-mauled-by-dingo-at-fraser-island [4] ‘Dingo attacks child on Fraser Island‘, 20090807, ^ dingo-attacks-child-on-fraser-island [5] ‘Dingo attacks Fraser Island tourist‘, 20110121, ^dingo-attacks-fraser-island-tourist [6] ‘Dingo attacks tourist on Fraser Island‘, ^dingo-attacks-tourist-on-fraser-island [7] Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton website, ^http://www.lindychamberlain.com/content/home [8] ‘Dingo attacks in Australia‘, ^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingo_attacks_in_Australia [9] ‘Dingo ‘superpack’ roams Fraser Island‘, ^http://www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=5856 [10] ‘Fears tourists’ dingo interaction threatens camping‘, Kallee Buchanan 20100316, ABC News,^http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/16/2846964.htm
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Saving Fraser Island Dingos
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[11] ‘Dingo enthusiast Jennifer Parkhurst fined $40k for feeding animals on Fraser Island‘,Kristin Shorten, The Courier-Mail, Brisbane, 20101104, ^woman-fined-40k-for-feeding-dingoes
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[12] ‘I’m shattered, says dingo raid protester‘, 20090907, The Noosa Journal, Australia,^http://animals-in-the-news.blogspot.com/2009/09/inval-overheid-in-woning-fraser-island.html
[13] ‘Battle over the fate of Fraser Island’s dingoes‘, 20110108, Sydney Morning Herald,^ battle-over-the-fate-of-fraser-islands-dingoes
[14] ‘Dingo Management‘, ^http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks/fraser/fraser-island-dingoes.html [15] ‘Fraser Island dingoes face extinction‘, Glenis Green, The Courier-Mail (newspaper), Brisbane, 20090523,^ fraser-island-dingoes-face-extinction
[16] Fraser Island Footprints, ^http://www.fraserislandfootprints.com/wp/?page_id=713 [17] Fraser Island Dingos Organisation (FIDO) website, ^http://www.fido.org.au/ [18] ‘A Draft Dingo Management Strategy for Fraser Island‘, FIDO website,^http://www.fido.org.au/DingoManagement.html
[19] ‘Values of Fraser Island Tourism‘, FIDO website,
^http://www.fido.org.au/values-of-fraser-tourism.html
[20] Fraser Island Management Committee,^http://www.tonycharters.com/heritage.html#CampingFraser
[21] ‘Nomination of the Dingo as a threatened species‘, 2001, Australian Wildlife Protection Council,^http://www.awpc.org.au/other_fauna/dingo1.htm
[22] ‘Tourism operators criticise LNP Fraser Island plan‘, Kallee Buchanan, ABC TV News, 20100902,^http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/02/3000360.htm
[23] ‘Saving our wildlife from urban sprawl‘, 20101224, EcoNews.org.au,^http://econews.org.au/2010/12/saving-our-wildlife-from-urban-sprawl/
[24] Fraser Island, ^http://widebaygreens.org/fraser-island/.
Wild dingos on Fraser Island ..deserve a healthy viable ecosystem, deserve to be left alone. [Source: ^http://ozmagic2.homestead.com/dingo.html]
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Tags: Azaria Lesson, dingo attacks, dingo ecology, dingo extinction risk, dingo persecution, dingos and children don't mix, Fraser Island dingo, Fraser Island tourism, Louise Parkhurst, pure dingo, The Fraser Island (Great Sandy Region), warrigal, World Heritage Fraser Island
This is a short but informative article, providing the reader with useful introduction to the dingo situation on Fraser Island together with a comprehensive list of references to relevant reading material that is easily available on the internet.
In relation to the Further Reading (FR) list, I would like to point out that:
• The Habitat Advocate has written other articles on this topic which are available on its Website.
• The raid on Jennifer Parkhurst’s house, the confiscation of her photographs and documentation of the Fraser Island dingoes, the excessively high amount she was fined for feeding the dingoes (both the prosecuting and defending barristers submitted that the fine should be no more than $5000) and the statement by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service that it has since revived and fixed the Service’s treatment of the dingoes (see “Dogs of War”, Australian Story, 28-2-2011), remind me of the raid on the B. Wongar’s house and the confiscation of his documentation and manuscript for his book about Aboriginal death in custody.
• The title FIDO has given to its FR18 Website is misleading as the Website is FIDO’s submission on the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service’s Draft Fraser Island Dingo Management Strategy and not an officially proposed strategy.
• In my opinion, in spite of FIDO’s frequent use of the adjective “humane”, the treatment of dingoes it has proposed in its submission (FR18) on the QPWS Draft Fraser Island Dingo Management Strategy, are just as cruel and adversely disruptive to the dingo culture as those proposed by QPWS in its Draft Strategy.
That this is so is evident from FIDO”s qualified condition on the dingoes right to roam freely on the Island, trapping and tagging every one of the Island’s dingoes “in ways which dramatically increases their wariness of approaching humans and destroying the rogue ones”, i.e. presumably those that do not conform to the imposed condition on their rights to roam freely.
Also it seems to me that FIDO is unaware that European wolves still exist in the wild in parts of Eastern and Southern Europe, that both wolves and dingoes play equally important ecological part in their environment and that there are residents living on Fraser Island when it formulated its last principle for keeping dingoes in the wild namely that the loss of dingoes on Fraser Island would represent a much greater tragedy that the loss of European wolves, because whereas wolves threatened humans in their domestic circumstances, Fraser Island dingoes only represent threats to humans in their recreation.