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Disturbing footage of dingo attacks revealed

Disturbing footage of dingo attacks have been released by rangers following multiple attacks in a popular camping spot that occurred just weeks apart. Tourists have been warned to be wary of the wild animals after shocking footage emerged of a tourist being nipped while sunbathing. The video comes just weeks before a 10-year-old boy was attacked and dragged underwater by a dingo at K’gari Island – formerly known as Fraser Island – on June 16. The boy sustained puncture wounds to his shoulder and bruises to his collarbone because of the accident, which happened in front of a popular camping spot on the island. “The boy’s 12-year-old-sister who was nearby reacted quickly and ran to assist him,” Assistant principal ranger Danielle Mansfield said. “The family treated the boy for puncture wounds to his shoulder and arms and scratches and bruises on his collarbone and arm.” Mansfield also said that rangers were closely monitoring the dingo responsible for the attack, which had blood splatters across its face and paws following the attack, although there are currently no plans to euthanise it. Two months ago, a similar attack occurred where a primary school-aged girl was<a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/child-hospitalised-from-dingo-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> hospitalised following a dingo attack</a> while swimming. The girl suffered bites to her head and fingers after the dingo attempted to drag her underwater. Rangers have also released dashcam footage of another dingo chasing a young boy and an adult male, in an area close to where the 10-year-old boy was attacked, just two weeks before the unfortunate incident. The dingo was euthanised for “poor behaviour”. This comes a few weeks after another dingo was euthanised following a string of attacks, including a sunbathing tourist, a seven-year-old boy and a 42-year-old woman. Dingoes are native to K’gari Island, but a few of them fail to show any wariness towards people, and are increasingly brazen as a result of people deliberately or unintentionally feeding them, rangers said. “We have increased patrols in the region to monitor the wongari’s (dingo’s) behaviour and pass on dingo-safe messaging to campers and visitors,” Mansfield said. “These animals are capable of inflicting serious harm, and they have bitten children and adults, and some are quite brazen and are not fleeing when yelled at or when someone brandishes a stick.” “People think it won’t happen to them, but it can happen to anyone and that’s why rangers are providing dingo-safe information to as many people as possible,” she added. “We don’t want any incidents on K’gari, and people must understand that dingoes are wild animals and should never be fed or interacted with.” Images: Queensland Department of Environment and Science / News.com.au

Travel Trouble

Child hospitalised from dingo attack

A primary school-aged girl has been hospitalised after getting attacked by a dingo while swimming at Queensland’s K’gari-Fraser island. It is understood that the girl was swimming in shallow water on the eastern side of the island on April 3 when the dingo launched at her in an attempt to drag her underwater. Family members on the island were able to free the girl, however, she suffered bites to her head and fingers. A RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter arrived at the scene and she was treated by paramedics and a critical care doctor before being flown to Hervey Bay Hospital where she remains in a stable position. The girl was pictured sitting upright and holding a stuffed toy when the helicopter arrived at the hospital. The incident comes after a five-year-old boy was attacked by a dingo and suffered a bite to his arm, head and buttocks while playing on a beach at K’gari-Fraser Island. The boy was with his nine-year-old brother in the sand when the incident occurred. Authorities said the attack was unprovoked and the boy’s father “quickly intervened” to pull the dingo off his young son. An off-duty paramedic rushed to the boy’s aid before he was flown to hospital to be treated for his injuries. K’gari dingoes are protected by law as native species on the island. There are an estimated 20 to 30 packs of the animals in K-gari, with each consisting of three to 12 dingoes. Visitors are urged to use caution as the wild animals are unpredictable and dangerous. Image credit: Shutterstock

News

Why this man was lucky to ONLY be fined $2300

A man has been slapped with a fine after feeding a wild dingo some biscuits. The 23-year-old was on Fraser Island, about 250km north of Brisbane, and was photographed by a local feeding the dingo - known as wongari in the local Indigenous dialect - back in April. The images were sent to Queensland’s Department of Environment and Sciences (DES) who issued the man a $2,300 fine. “A member of the public told rangers the man was at the front of the vehicle line while he was waiting for the ferry at Hook Point back in April,” DES compliance manager Mike Devery said in a statement. “The person said the man was ‘brazenly’ feeding the wongari, and given his place at the front of the queue, his offending was witnessed by multiple people. “Thankfully, the member of the public was able to take photos of the man as he fed the wongari, and they provided them to rangers.” Mr Devery confirmed that after being questioned, the man admitted to feeding the dingo. “The man told compliance officers that he threw biscuits in the sand to the wongari when he was cleaning out his vehicle.” The man was lucky to be only fined $2,300 as a court can fine a whopping $11,500 for humans feeding the wild animal. With around 400,000 people visiting the island, Mr Devery said the rules were in place to help protect both people and animals. Image: Queensland Department of Environment and Sciences

Travel Trouble

Ever wondered who would win in a fight between a dingo and a wolf? An expert explains

Imagine two of the world’s most iconic canids – a dingo and a wolf – head to head in a fight. Who would win? Before we examine the combatants in more detail, we need to answer an important question first, which wolf and which dingo? Taxonomy – the way we describe, name and classify Earth’s biodiversity – <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aav3437">remains contentious</a> for both animals. <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-dingo-is-a-true-blue-native-australian-species-111538">Dingoes are recognised as a species</a> in their own right by some, but not <a href="https://www.biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4317.2.1">others</a>. And, <a href="https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2021.004">dingoes are quite different</a> in their size and appearance, depending on whether they live in Australia’s alpine and forested areas, deserts, or tropical regions. As for wolves, there are North American (“Grey”), Mexican, Eurasian, Himalayan, Asiatic, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.16127">Indian and Tibetan</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mec.16048">Red</a>, African <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.08.041">golden</a>, Ethiopian and even “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/37/9/2616/5834723">ghost wolves</a>” – yes, <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.10.463851v3">ghost wolves</a>! Ghost wolves are species we can recognise from the past using genetic information, but they no longer survive and no fossils are known to exist. And then there are “wolves” that aren’t wolves at all: the fox-like <a href="https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/maned-wolf">maned wolf</a> in South America, and the gargantuan, now-extinct <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03082-x?proof=t">dire wolf</a>. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435232/original/file-20211202-17-a8k7d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435232/original/file-20211202-17-a8k7d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> The maned wolf is a canine from South America, but is neither a wolf nor a fox. Shutterstock For the purposes of this battle, let’s assume it’s between a grey wolf and an alpine dingo. <h2>Why do dogs, dingoes and wolves fight?</h2> <img src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1891/dingo.gif?1639005086" alt="" width="33%" align="left" /> For wild canids, fights occur for many reasons, within and between species when they overlap. Wolves and dingoes fight for mates, to attain dominance within packs, and to establish and maintain their territories. So, let’s get to know each opponent a little better. Dingoes and wolves are both social and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347210001478">intelligent species</a>, capable of <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7138/">complex behaviours and problem solving</a>. <img src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1892/wolf.gif?1639005618" alt="" width="33%" align="right" /> Grey wolves are what we call hyper-carnivores, feeding <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mam.12067">predominantly on other animals</a>, in many cases large prey such as deer, elk, moose and bison. Dingoes are omnivores with a <a href="https://theconversation.com/dingo-dinners-whats-on-the-menu-for-australias-top-predator-103846">broad, varied diet</a>. They eat everything from fruits, to invertebrates, to small and large vertebrates – think lizards, birds, wombats, wallabies, possums, kangaroos, and feral animals like goats and deer. Dingoes will also <a href="https://meridian.allenpress.com/australian-zoologist/article/41/3/433/464059/Dingoes-dining-with-death">scavenge food and carcasses</a>. Prior to European invasion, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2011.00203.x">dingoes likely occupied</a> all of mainland Australia. Aside from humans, it’s thought the grey wolf was once <a href="https://www.canids.org/species/view/PREKLD895731">the world’s most widespread mammal</a>, where it, and its subspecies, occurred across much of Europe, Asia, and North and Central America. But, like with dingoes, humans have caused substantial population and range decline of wolves. <h2>The battle: terrain is crucial</h2> The terrain of the arena for our combatants would be crucial. Dingoes and wolves are capable of moving at great speeds, sustained for long periods of time, especially in open country. Both can reach top speeds in the range of 50-60 kilometres per hour! <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435233/original/file-20211202-27-1p0mlxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435233/original/file-20211202-27-1p0mlxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> Aside from humans, the grey wolf may once have been the world’s most widespread mammal. Milo Weiler/Unsplash, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" class="license">CC BY</a> However, dingoes arguably have the advantage in tight spots, in terms of their much smaller size, greater agility and flexibility, and climbing abilities. Dingoes typically weigh between <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2011.00203.x">15 and 20 kilograms</a>, while grey wolves are usually in <a href="https://www.livescience.com/27909-wolves.html">the range of 30-65kg</a>, and up to around 80kg for some males. Dingoes have been recorded vertically jumping 2 metres and <a href="https://dingofoundation.org/dingoes-are-not-domestic-dogs/">climbing fences</a>, making them quite cat-like in many respects. So, if the battle occurs among many obstacles and on steep terrain, this will give dingoes an edge. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435230/original/file-20211202-23-d897tr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435230/original/file-20211202-23-d897tr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> Dingoes are perfectly adapted to Australia’s conditions. Shutterstock But if the fight is in the open, the much heavier, taller, and longer wolves will be too much for dingoes. They also pack a heavier <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2004.2986">bite quotient</a> (bite force relative to body mass) of 136 as compared to the dingo’s 108. Having said that, wolves are much taller than dingoes, around 65-80 centimetres and 45-60cm at their shoulders, respectively. So it’s possible a wily dingo could dash under the legs of a tall wolf and launch an attack on the vulnerable underbelly. <h2>What about pack vs pack?</h2> The final factor to consider is whether the fight is simply one dingo vs one wolf. Both can occur as individuals or in packs. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435228/original/file-20211202-21-1sxtsus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435228/original/file-20211202-21-1sxtsus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> Grey wolves can be in packs with 20 or more individuals. Eva Blue/Unsplash, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" class="license">CC BY</a> Dingoes are typically found alone, in pairs or in small packs of a few individuals, but occasionally can be found in much larger, less socially cohesive groups of ten or more when <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2013.00056.x">food resources are plentiful</a>. Wolves, on the other hand, are often found in groups of between five and ten, but much larger packs of 20 or more can also occur. I spoke to Lyn Watson, who runs the <a href="https://dingofoundation.org/">Dingo Discovery and Research Centre</a>. She says dingoes are “flight, rather than fight, canids”. This is wise behaviour, as dingoes are small in number and size and can’t rely on a large pack, like wolves sometimes can, to substitute them should they become injured in a fight. She goes on to say that from her 30 years of observations, female dingoes are particularly deadly. <blockquote> While dingoes are small, bonded pairs will fight in a coordinated way. Males fight in traditional neck and throat grabs, or “elbow”, but their bonded other has a completely different mode - and it’s deadly. The female will stay at the periphery then dart into the soft parts of the combatant that is threatening her mate. She aims to maim - and does so, targeting the most “sensitive” of areas, enough said! </blockquote> So if it’s pack vs pack, wolves will be far too strong. But if a single wolf was unlucky enough to come across a pack of dingoes, the tide could turn strongly in favour of dingoes. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434086/original/file-20211126-25-1pu702n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434086/original/file-20211126-25-1pu702n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> Female dingoes aim to maim when they fight. Angus Emmott <h2>Learning to live together</h2> Even though wolves and dingoes fight in the wild, despite common perceptions, they generally pose a very small risk to people, especially if we adhere to advice such as not feeding them. Domestic and feral dogs pose a far greater risk to us. It’s estimated that around the world, <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/animal-bites">dogs bite and injure tens of millions of people</a> annually. In the US alone, it’s thought around 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year. Of course, in reality wolves and dingoes will never fight each other in the wild. The greatest threat they both face is the ongoing destruction of their habitats and widespread <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/csp2.304">direct persecution from humans</a> (trapping, poisoning, shooting, and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42977-021-00106-z">exclusion from areas</a>), often aimed at protecting livestock. Like other apex predators, dingoes and wolves have critical roles in our ecosystems and, in many cases, have deep cultural significance for <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/175303709X434149">Indigenous people</a>. We must find more ethical and sustainable ways to <a href="https://meridian.allenpress.com/australian-zoologist/article-abstract/41/3/491/447838/Co-existing-with-dingoes-Challenges-and-solutions">share our world</a>. <img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158312/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/euan-ritchie-735">Euan Ritchie</a>, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ever-wondered-who-would-win-in-a-fight-between-a-dingo-and-a-wolf-an-expert-explains-158312">original article</a>. Image: Wes Mountain/The Conversation

Family & Pets

Why dingoes should be considered native to mainland Australia – even though humans introduced them

Dingoes are <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cz/article-abstract/57/5/668/5004458">often demonised</a> as a danger to livestock, while many consider them a natural and essential part of the environment. But is our most controversial wild species actually native to Australia? Dingoes were brought to Australia by humans from Southeast Asia some 4,000 years ago. Technically, this means they are an introduced species, and an “alien” species by <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article-abstract/68/7/496/5050532">classic ecological definitions </a>. By contrast, most legal definitions consider dingoes native, because they were here before Europeans arrived. Though it sounds academic, the controversy has real consequences for this ancient dog lineage. In 2018, the Western Australian government declared dingoes <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-wa-government-is-wrong-to-play-identity-politics-with-dingoes-102344">were not native fauna</a> due to crossbreeding with domestic dogs. This potentially makes it easier to control their numbers. In a <a href="https://meridian.allenpress.com/australian-zoologist/article-abstract/41/3/358/472935/An-eco-evolutionary-rationale-to-distinguish-alien">new research paper</a>, I find dingoes do indeed fit the bill as an Australian native species, using three new criteria I propose. These criteria can help us answer questions over whether alien species can ever be considered native, and if so, over what time frame. <h2>Why does alien or native status matter?</h2> Humans have been moving animal species around for millennia. Thousands of years ago, neolithic settlers <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2907.1992.tb00129.x">moved rabbits</a> to Mediterranean islands, traders unwittingly took black rats from India to Europe and Indigenous Southeast Asian people took pigs to Papua New Guinea. The rate of species introductions has ramped up with the movement and spread of people, with many recent arrivals posing a major threat to biodiversity. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435486/original/file-20211203-25-eianud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435486/original/file-20211203-25-eianud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> Pigs were introduced to Papua New Guinea by Indigenous people thousands of years ago. Does that make them native? Shutterstock Researchers often distinguish between alien and native using the year the species was introduced. There are obvious problems with this, given the dates used can be arbitrary and the fact perceptions of nativeness can be based on how much <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0309132507079499">humans like the species</a>, rather than its ecological impact. For example, there has been strong opposition to killing “friendly” hedgehogs in areas of Scotland where they are introduced, but less cute animals like American mink get no such consideration. For conservationists, alien status certainly matters. <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspb.2006.0444">Alien species act differently</a> to native species in their new environments, which can give them an advantage over locals in terms of competition for food, predation and spreading new diseases. This can cause native population declines and extinctions. As a result, species considered alien in their ecosystems are often targets for control and eradication. But species considered native are usually protected even if they have extended their range significantly, like eastern water dragons or the Australian white ibis. Native status is, of course, a human construct. Past definitions of nativeness have not directly considered the ecological reasons for concern about alien species. This is what <a href="https://meridian.allenpress.com/australian-zoologist/article-abstract/41/3/358/472935/An-eco-evolutionary-rationale-to-distinguish-alien">my new research</a> seeks to address. <h2>An ecological definition of nativeness</h2> What I propose are three staged criteria to determine when an introduced species becomes native: <ol> <li> has the introduced species evolved in its new environment? </li> <li> do native species recognise and respond to the introduced species as they do other local species? </li> <li> are the interactions between introduced and established native species similar to interactions between native species (that is, their impacts on local species are not negative and exaggerated)? </li> </ol> For dingoes on mainland Australia, the answer is yes for all three criteria. We should consider them native. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435474/original/file-20211203-23-1o19jql.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435474/original/file-20211203-23-1o19jql.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> Dingoes on mainland Australia meet the criteria for native status. Peter Banks, Author provided Firstly, dingoes are not the same dogs first brought here. Dingoes are now <a href="https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4564.1.6">quite different</a> to their close ancestors in Southeast Asia, in terms of behaviour, how they reproduce and how they look. These <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14515-6">differences have a genetic basis</a>, suggesting they have evolved since their arrival in Australia. Their heads are now shaped differently, they breed less often and have better problem solving skills than other close dog relatives. Second, it is well established that native prey species on mainland Australia <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspb.2018.0857">recognise and respond to dingoes</a> as dangerous predators – which they are. Finally, dingo impacts on prey species <a href="https://meridian.allenpress.com/australian-zoologist/article-abstract/41/3/338/447847/Introgression-does-not-influence-the-positive?redirectedFrom=fulltext">are not devastating</a> like those of alien predators such as feral cats and foxes. While hunting by dingoes does suppress prey numbers, they don’t keep them as low (and at greater risk of extinction) as do foxes and cats. Of course, dingo impacts were unlikely to have always been so benign. Dingoes are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1191/0959683603hl682fa">linked to the extinction</a> of Tasmanian tigers (Thylacines), Tasmanian devils and the Tasmanian flightless hen, which disappeared from mainland Australia soon after the dingo arrived. In my paper, I argue such impacts no longer occur because of evolutionary change in both dingoes and their prey. We can see this in Tasmania, which dingoes never reached. There, prey species like bandicoots still show <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0161447">naiveté towards dogs</a>. That means we should not consider dingoes to be native to Tasmania. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435484/original/file-20211203-23-101r65w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435484/original/file-20211203-23-101r65w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> Native prey species on the mainland recognise and respond to dingoes. Shutterstock <h2>Alien today, native tomorrow?</h2> This idea challenges the dogma alien species remain alien forever. This is an unsettling concept for ecologists dealing with the major and ongoing damage done by newer arrivals. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article-abstract/62/3/217/358332">Some argue</a> we should never embrace alien species into natural ecosystems. This makes no sense for long-established introduced species, which might now be playing a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-dingo-fence-from-space-satellite-images-show-how-these-top-predators-alter-the-desert-155642">positive role</a> in ecosystems. But it’s a different story for recently introduced species like cats, given not enough time has passed to get past the exaggerated impacts on local species. These ideas are not about considering all species present in an ecosystem to be native. Introduced species should still be considered alien until proven native. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435482/original/file-20211203-27-1atm2p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435482/original/file-20211203-27-1atm2p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Cat sitting in the outback" /></a> Cats are a bigger threat to Australian wildlife than dingoes. Shutterstock This approach suggests ways of classifying species which might be native to a country but have moved to new places within the country through mechanisms like climate change or re-wilding. For example, we can’t simply assume returning Tasmanian devils to <a href="https://theconversation.com/bringing-devils-back-to-the-mainland-could-help-wildlife-conservation-43121">mainland Australia</a> more than 3,000 years after dingoes drove them extinct there would count as reintroducing a native species. Defining nativeness in this ecological way will help resolve some of the heated and long-running debates over how to distinguish alien and native species. How? Because it targets the key reason conservationists were worried about alien species in the first place – the damage they can do.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172756/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-banks-7272">Peter Banks</a>, Professor of Conservation Biology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-dingoes-should-be-considered-native-to-mainland-australia-even-though-humans-introduced-them-172756">original article</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Domestic Travel

Rare photos from dingo expert unearthed that show Lindy Chamberlain’s innocence

Lindy Chamberlain’s world was turned upside down in August 1980, when she was jailed for the disappearance of her nine-month-old daughter Azaria. Lindy insisted a dingo took her daughter from their camping spot at Uluru, but many refused to believe the lack of evidence that pointed to a wild dog attack. Lindy served three years in jail over Azaria’s death, before being pardoned and set free when new evidence arose. Despite many doubting Lindy’s story, one man named Les Harris, an aeronautical engineer and part-time dingo expert, repeatedly tried to give the courts valuable evidence that would clear Lindy’s name. Now, 30 years on, a trove of material he collected throughout the case proceedings, including <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10079223/Dingo-expert-shown-Lindy-Chamberlain-did-not-kill-baby-Azaria-Uluru.html">photographs and a dingo skull</a>, will go under the hammer at an auction house. Among the valuable documents are statements he made explaining how dingoes can easily hold the weight of a baby without dragging it, could have removed clothes using their teeth, and eat their prey whole - with not even bones remaining. Les Harris was the president of The Dingo Foundation in the early 1980s and based his evidence on his extensive knowledge of Australia’s wild dog. He was interviewed for a documentary produced by Network Ten and screened in 1984 called Azaria: A Question of Evidence. “Based on the factual evidence available at the very time that this happened, we believe that the probability that a dingo, took, killed and carried off Azaria Chamberlain, is of such a high order as to be nearly a certainty,” Harris said. During Lindy’s court proceedings, Les was constantly rebuffed as he tried to share this valuable information. He wrote to magistrates and judges explaining why a dingo was almost certainly responsible for Azaria's death but his efforts were largely ignored. Harris’s collection of valuable material on Azaria’s death will be sold by <a href="https://sydneyrarebookauctions.com.au/">Sydney Rare Book Auctions</a>, some years after his death in the New England region of New South Wales. Harris was firmly among those who believed the Chamberlains had nothing to do with the tragic death of their daughter, which became one of the most high-profile cases in Australia. Image credits: Getty Images

Legal

The heartbreaking letter that freed Lindy Chamberlain

Lindy Chamberlain has revealed the heartbreaking letter she had smuggled out of jail, after being thrown behind bars for four years following the death of her baby daughter, Azaria. During a family camping trip in Uluru on August 17, 1980, Chamberlain’s world fell apart after a dingo took her baby Azaria from the family tent. The nine-week old was never seen again. The disappearance led to a number of court cases and inquests and saw a now 72-year-old Chamberlain jailed for life in 1982 - before she was eventually cleared in 1986. Now, Sam Neil takes a critical look into the investigation in a two-part series, titled Lindy Chamberlain: The True Story. While the documentary is a retelling of the entire case, it also goes in depth about Chamberlain’s personal life. In May 1984, four years after Azaria’s death - the governor-General was given a petition signed by 131,000 people, demanding a judicial inquiry into the Chamberlain case. The National Freedom Council was adamant the campaign would not end until Lindy was free. Looking at spending her third Christmas in jail with no release date set, Chamberlain had a heartbreaking letter smuggled out of her cell detailing how unjust her treatment had been. “I’ve tried to co-operate, but still this farce continues,” she wrote. “For nearly three years, I have worked as an inmate of this prison for 30 cents a day, trying to do whatever I was asked pleasantly. “I have sought an inquiry whereby the NT Government had a chance to redeem their own name. In return, they have ignored decency and justice and still scoff at it. “As from 1 pm Darwin time today, I’m refusing to work in any way whatsoever for this prison. “I did not kill my lovely daughter and refuse to be treated as a criminal any longer.” Chamberlain was exonerated in 1986, after a piece of Azaria’s clothing was found near a dingo den. Before her release, Michael Chamberlain and their three children Aiden, Reagan and Kahlia – who was born while Lindy was behind bars – could only visit Lindy three times a year, with media “desperate” to catch a glimpse of Australia’s most infamous family entering the prison. Ita Buttrose, who went to the Mulawa Women’s Prison to interview Chamberlain, said her time behind bars was “very, very isolating” and these visits – including her interview visit- were deemed a “treat”. “Everyone in Australia judged this woman before she ever got a trial,” Buttrose said “Even when she was in jail, she was still being judged.”

Ernie Dingo is back! "Viewers are in for a real treat"

Looking for a wholesome TV show to spend your night with? You will be in for a treat next month. Ernie Dingo’s travel show Going Places with Ernie Dingo is coming back for a new season, and viewers can expect to follow the Indigenous Australian actor on his journey to some of the country’s most iconic destinations on a new channel. The series, which has been on air since 2016 on NITV, is set to move to SBS for its third instalment with 16 half-hour episodes. “Going Places with Ernie Dingo has been a firm favourite with NITV audiences for the last two seasons and I am thrilled that it will be reaching even more Australians on SBS,” said Tanya Orman, channel manager at NITV. In this season, the 62-year-old explores various destinations across Australia, including Charlotte Pass (NSW), Horizontal Falls (WA), Yirrkala (NT), Hervey Bay (QLD), Grampians (VIC), Bruny Island (TAS), Ceduna (SA), Mount Kosciuszko (NSW), Broome (WA), Jindabyne (NSW), Stradbroke Island (QLD), Lake Mungo (NSW), Gold Coast Hinterland (QLD), Strahan (TAS) and Port Lincoln (SA). <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw6VSrLgouB/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw6VSrLgouB/" target="_blank">A post shared by SBS Australia (@sbs_australia)</a> on May 1, 2019 at 12:25am PDT </div> </blockquote> “Ernie has a long history of travel presenting on Australian television and our viewers have loved seeing him in his element, travelling the country and getting to know everyday Aussies along the way,” Orman told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.nowtolove.com.au/celebrity/tv/going-places-with-ernie-dingo-sbs-55795" target="_blank">TV Week</a>. “His open and relaxed interview technique brings out some amazing stories and viewers are in for a real treat as he visits some of the most beautiful places in our country.” Starting June 12, viewers can catch the show every Wednesday at 7.30 pm on SBS.

Travel Tips

Meet Australian Reptile Park’s 5 new dingo pups

Ready for your daily dose of cuteness? The Australian Reptile park has just welcomed five adorably tiny dingo pups, born to parents Adina and Fred. The early arrival of the gorgeous puppies was “definitely a surprise,” <a href="http://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/04/10/15/46/five-dingo-puppies-born-early-at-nsw-zoo" target="_blank">according to</a> zoo spokeswoman Amanda Woodbine, who said they weren’t expecting delivery until towards the end of May. Watch their first special moments above – we think you’ll fall in love with them just as quick as we did. Too cute! Credit: Australian Reptile Park via Storyful.

News

Meet the new dingo pups at Australian Reptile Park

A pair of proud parents at the Australian Reptile Park, on the NSW central coast, have welcomed the arrival of five fuzzy and very cute dingo pups. Mum and dad Adina and Fred surpassed expectations with their larger-than-usual litter of three male and two female pups, bred in captivity over the autumn months. The youngsters will be fully reliant on their mum for the next few weeks before they venture out of their den to meet winter school holiday makers later this month. Australian Reptile Park general manager Tim Faulkner said the births highlighted the critical role endangered dingoes played in the country's ecosystem. "Dingoes are being blasted, baited, tracked, shot and hunted in the wild because of their perceived damage to agriculture," Mr Faulkner said. "However, killing dingoes removes them from the critical weight eco-system, allowing feral foxes and cats to continuously increase the rate of mammal extinction. If dingoes continue to be hunted, Australia will see another endangered species disappear, just like the Tasmanian Tiger, a marsupial which shared a similar role." Have you ever seen cute dingo pups? What’s your favourite Aussie animal? Let us know in the comments. First appeared on <a href="http://Stuff.co.nz" target="_blank">Stuff.co.nz</a>. Video credit: Facebook / Australian Reptile Park Related links: <a href="/news/news/2016/08/man-saves-kangaroo-from-sticky-situation/">Kind stranger saves kangaroo from sticky situation</a> <a href="/travel/international/2016/07/this-baby-rhino-is-meeting-the-other-animals-at-the-zoo/">This baby rhino is meeting the other animals at the zoo</a> <a href="/travel/international/2016/07/6-best-animal-experiences-you-can-have-in-australia/">6 best animal experiences you can have in Australia</a>

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Rare photos from dingo expert unearthed that show Lindy Chamberlain’s innocence

The heartbreaking letter that freed Lindy Chamberlain

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Meet Australian Reptile Park’s 5 new dingo pups

Meet the new dingo pups at Australian Reptile Park

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