The fight to save the dingo is heating up
September 5, 2024 9:56 PM Subscribe
The fight to save the dingo is heating up.
Traditional owner and fourth-generation grazier Joshua Henry was raised to see dingoes as a threat to cattle. Now his views have changed and he's adding his voice to calls to ban the killing of dingoes.
Much of the country remains deeply divided over whether dingoes are native wildlife to be protected or an invasive pest to be controlled.
At the heart of the debate is a dispute over whether the animals in question are, in fact, dingoes – or dingo-dog hybrids.
It was widely believed that dingoes and domestic dogs started breeding after colonisation, creating hybrids later called wild dogs and classed as invasive pests.
Several states have different laws for dingoes and wild dogs.
Dingoes may be protected on public land but wild dogs are not.
Last year a landmark study up-ended long-held assumptions that underpin those laws.
UNSW conservation geneticist Kylie Cairns used cutting edge methods to test the DNA of 307 wild animals from across Australia.
The study was partly funded by The Dingo Foundation.
Nationally, 85 per cent were pure dingoes with little, or no, dog ancestry.
In Victoria, 90 per cent of animals had no dog ancestry at all.
"The genetic evidence suggests that largely dingoes and dogs don't reproduce together," Dr Cairns says.
"It's really brought to the forefront the fact that the animal we're killing with lethal control is a native animal … and we should be managing them as a native animal instead of as an invasive animal."
7.30 can reveal the Australian Capital Territory is working on a new plan to manage dingoes as a native species after a follow-up study of 20 animals from Namadgi National Park showed all were 100 per cent pure dingoes.
Much of the country remains deeply divided over whether dingoes are native wildlife to be protected or an invasive pest to be controlled.
At the heart of the debate is a dispute over whether the animals in question are, in fact, dingoes – or dingo-dog hybrids.
It was widely believed that dingoes and domestic dogs started breeding after colonisation, creating hybrids later called wild dogs and classed as invasive pests.
Several states have different laws for dingoes and wild dogs.
Dingoes may be protected on public land but wild dogs are not.
Last year a landmark study up-ended long-held assumptions that underpin those laws.
UNSW conservation geneticist Kylie Cairns used cutting edge methods to test the DNA of 307 wild animals from across Australia.
The study was partly funded by The Dingo Foundation.
Nationally, 85 per cent were pure dingoes with little, or no, dog ancestry.
In Victoria, 90 per cent of animals had no dog ancestry at all.
"The genetic evidence suggests that largely dingoes and dogs don't reproduce together," Dr Cairns says.
"It's really brought to the forefront the fact that the animal we're killing with lethal control is a native animal … and we should be managing them as a native animal instead of as an invasive animal."
7.30 can reveal the Australian Capital Territory is working on a new plan to manage dingoes as a native species after a follow-up study of 20 animals from Namadgi National Park showed all were 100 per cent pure dingoes.
In Australia, there is a general understanding that dingoes are a precious native species, that you need to be very careful of encountering in the wild.
posted by chmmr at 3:36 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
posted by chmmr at 3:36 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
It's fascinating to see science used in this manner, as something that can answer a definite question and the results seem to be accepted despite overturning a long held belief.
posted by Art_Pot at 6:06 AM on September 6
posted by Art_Pot at 6:06 AM on September 6
It's a shame they can cross so easily, and the ding-dogs are so prolific. But the time to start to curate the pure strain is now (yesterday!), not to kill animals off willy-nilly. Hooray for having a wide genetic base! Keeping domestic and feral dogs away from known pure packs is a no-brainer.
posted by BlueHorse at 7:55 PM on September 6
posted by BlueHorse at 7:55 PM on September 6
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There might be an argument that dogs and dog hybrids behave differently than dingoes? But as far as I can see it's more an ideological position that certain animals have more right to belong, rather than an ecological argument?
posted by Zumbador at 11:17 PM on September 5