The Truth about Dingoes: 7 Why keeping Dingo populations healthy means more $ for cattle graziers

The short and sweet of it is having dingoes in the system the whole system benefits. 

The conservation of dingoes is hampered by economic conflicts between predation and livestock production.

Dingoes are the top predator in Australia's terrestrial ecosystems but their abundance is controlled because they prey on livestock. 



Dingo control (trapping, poisoning and shooting) is associated with increased populations of herbivores, which leads to reduced cattle conditioning and fertility through competition for pasture.

Research has demonstrated and proven that where dingo populations are left alone the competition for grazing reduces, so it's a win-win situation for the graziers and our ecosystems. So, education, funding and advocating for guardian animals is the way forward to dingo conservation and both sides need our support!

Extinction Rate Statistics Attributed to Foxes and Cats...

One of The Dingo Debate’s strongest factual arguments was its analysis of extinction rates where there were and were not any dingoes. Johnson from James Cook University discovered that mammals and marsupials in areas with healthy dingo populations survived much longer than they did in environments that did not have dingoes. In fact, 90% of ground dwelling mammals had gone extinct in areas where dingoes had been banished from. This local extinction rate was the direct result of foxes and feral cats. Johnson further states that “his interest in protective effect of dingoes began years ago”.

Johnson Study

Johnson’s interest in the protective effect of dingoes began when we was working on a northern New South Wales cattle farm that was owned by “very good naturalists”.

He was conducting a study on wallabies in the area. To his surprise there were no foxes in the area. The property owners explained to Johnson how they didn’t bait dingoes because they understood the importance of apex predators in an environmental system and how vital they are to sustaining and maintaining the ecological balance.

Johnson’s new perspective (from his disposition change on the dingoes) directed him to change his study on the cattle farm. His new study was to look at fox and cat population and how many threatened native animals were on the cattle stations. After weeks of meticulous research, he did not discover any foxes or cats in the area. Positively he also found that the area was a haven for rat kangaroos, bettongs and threatened marsupials.

Johnson further explained another eye opening situation that happened only a few weeks after he finished his study. A colleague of his was doing a study on the endangered rufous hare-wallaby in the Tanami Desert. While his colleague was studying the wallaby he observed that the dingo was occasionally eating them. He notified the local parks and wildlife services and it resulted in the poisoning of all the dingoes in the area. After the dingoes were poisoned from the site Johnson’s colleague stated,

“Within two weeks, there were foxes on the site, and they killed off all the hare-wallabies. That species is now extinct on the mainland”. – Johnson’s Colleague (Levy, S. 2009)

Key Observation of Mesopredator Release
The upsetting outcome of the rufous hare-wallaby is a strong example of mesopredator release. Mesopredator release is when an apex predator (dingo) is removed from a system and the lesser predator(s) (cats/foxes) become unchecked and unchallenged. This is the syndrome of a worsened ecological balance due to the elimination of the top order predator that is replaced by the lesser predator. There have been several studies in North America with the same situation. All of the studies clearly show a negative impact on ecological balance.

Information reproduced with permission from http://jennyleeparker3.wixsite.com/aussie-canis-dingo

So, You Want to Own a Dingo by Berenice Walters. Part 3

Many people today still think that owning a dingo is the same as owning any breed of domestic dog. This is just not the case and was a matter that concerned Berenice many years ago. This is the first part of an extract from her book “The Company of Dingoes: Two Decades with Our Native Dog” published in 1995 and based on her own experience over 20 years. 

Comments from experienced Dingo people are welcome.

Why do dingoes in particular, need very secure fencing? Dingoes need secure fencing because they are a natural hunting breed, strongly territorial, and cat-like in their agility (and all breeds of dogs in captivity should be restricted to their owner’s property). In the wild, other groups of dogs form natural territorial boundaries. In the domestic environment, these boundaries have to be established artificially by secure fencing. Fences will be continually tested to the limit, and hasty, makeshift fences will never survive the desires and frustrations generated, in particular, during the breeding season.
Escape can be disastrous, possibly ending in the death of the animal under the wheels of a car, or at the hands of an outraged neighbour who has just lost a pen full of fowls, or a favourite cat. There can also be embarrassing legal consequences.

The essential ingredient of dingo ownership is an understanding of the special treatment and facilities required by this breed. Assuming that you are lucky enough to secure a puppy of good temperament unspoiled by its first contact with humans, you can expect your whole life to change – your life-style will have to be moulded around the requirements of your dingo. You will have to spend many, many hours of patient work to EARN its confidence and trust, which can only ever be partial, and easily broken beyond repair.

At first, your only reward could be that you will be allowed to learn to behave as IT expects you to otherwise the result will be disastrous failure on your part, and another wasted dingo.

What do Dingoes eat?

In a domestic situation, dingoes will thrive on a diet similar to domestic breeds. At Merigal we feed a ration of two thirds coarse minced beef, and one third dry food. regularly given. Bones and biscuits are also regularly given

Do Dingoes bark?

Dingoes can bark, but rarely do so, and only in a single, gruff voice, or a high-pitched yap, similar to wolves. However, they are very vocal, with a wide range of expressive howling, or singing, that expresses their moods and communications, yodelling and crowing in happiness and 'talk'. To warn of danger or uncertainty the dingo will give three or four short sharp barks then a shrill and brief howl. Depending on the circumstances, this vocal expression can be extremely forceful if a threat to the colony as a whole is suspected. One of the most beautiful and exciting sounds made by the Dingo and one that is so rarely heard is the purr, a gentle rumbling sound that appears to be made by the tongue vibrating behind the teeth and causing the lips to gently vibrate in a purr.

To be continued