Dingo management has gone to the dogs, advocates say

Laws allowing the killing of dingoes need review, say advocates for the wild dogs as they make a stand for the culturally significant animal. But farmers insist they need the right to exterminate dingoes which are a threat to their livestock. Sonya Takau and the Minyumai Rangers of the Bandjalang Clan visited NSW parliament on Wednesday with some cute and fluffy puppies, calling for an inquiry into dingo management. “(Indigenous) people are not included in the decisions being made about a very culturally significant animal,” Ms Takau said. “The law makes room for the annihilation and destruction of dingoes across the country through any means ... God knows what’s happening out there to these animals.” Dingoes are unprotected in NSW, the ACT and South Australia. In Queensland, Western Australia, Victoria and the Northern Territory, the canines are protected in national parks and conservation areas. Tasmania does not have a native dingo population. Poisoned baits, trapping and fencing are among control methods. NSW Farmers member John Rolfe reckons scientists and governments can play around with the classification of wild dogs and dingoes over what should be protected, but the reality is both need to be controlled. “These animals viciously attack and kill calves, lambs, goat kids and even larger livestock such as ewes, so we simply cannot stand by and watch the population of these predators explode,” he told AAP. “Keeping control orders for wild dogs and dingoes in place across NSW should be the bare minimum when it comes to keeping our goats, sheep and cattle safe from attack.” Wild dog attacks on livestock and increasing biosecurity risks from the spread of disease can have major financial impacts on farmers, a NSW government spokesperson said. “The economic, environmental and social impacts of wild dogs in NSW cannot be underestimated,’‘ the spokesperson said. “The government takes a co-ordinated, multi-agency response to the management of wild dogs to better protect industry, livestock, pets, native animals and the community.” Dingo Rescue founder Charlie Jackson-Martins struggles to keep up with demand. “When dingo parents are killed, the pups are left a lot of the time alone to starve. They’re preyed upon by animals. They’re hit by cars. Some of them come to us, but most of them don’t.” Dingoes can be legally kept as pets in NSW and Jackson-Martins estimated about one in three purchased from a backyard breeder are rehomed or surrendered to a shelter in their first year of life.