Copy from Leigh Mullens Email last sent:
Dear Minister Hunt,
(State & Territory Ministers)
"Will you be the Minister(s) that permitted the Dingo to go the way of the Thylacine? Or will you be the Minister(s) that will be applauded by future Australian generations for saving them?"
The Dingo (Canis sp.dingo) has inhabited the Australian continent for thousands of years. The theory & personal opinion of ONE man in the 80's proposed that they were 'introduced' as domesticated village dogs only 3000-4000 years ago by trading Asian fishermen simply because they 'looked' like dogs he observed whilst on holiday in Asia. A claim he backed up because of the lack of fossil evidence prior to this date. 'argumentum ad ignorantiam' .. "the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence"
But there is 'evidence' to the contrary of the 'searfarer' theory. DNA Evidence.. The earliest (2004) DNA studies can trace the Dingoes arrival back to ~12,000 years. The most recent (Aug 2014) analysed the DNA of Wolves, Dogs and Dingoes. Present in domesticated dogs was the gene (AMY2B) This genetic mutation commonly found in Dogs but rare or absent in Dingoes and Wolves presented itself the adaptation for dogs to digest complex starches only found in agrarian human societies. Societies that did not exist until at least 14,000 years ago. The genetic absence of this gene in the Australian Dingo irrefutably rules out descent from domestic Asian village dogs and points to an 'arrival' time for the Dingo of at least 14,000 years ago. Carbon dating of Aboriginal art and weathering dating of Burrup Peninsular petroglyphs could push this date many thousands of years further into the pliestocene era.
http://www.plosgenetics.org/…/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjourna…
This seafarer 'opinion' has somehow become entrenched as 'fact'. The current 'facts' and science of modern DNA analysis supports a much older 'migration' to the Australasian conjoined continent of Sahul comprising Australia & New Guinea.
Regardless of the Dingo's arrival date, he plays a vital and established role in the Australian ecosystem as Apex predator. As Federal Environment Minister you are acutely aware of the necessity for this balance. Without a healthy Apex predator population, ecologies collapse. Trophic cascade.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_cascade This is Biology 101. http://www.rewilding.org/TopDownRegulation.html
It has been irrefutably proven by Eureka award winning Australian scientists that where stable Dingo packs exist, biodiversity is greater. Fauna & Flora. Endangered native species cohabit with Dingoes and enjoy protection from predation by invasive introduced mesopredators such as feral cats, & foxes. Dingoes also control invasive herbivore/omnivore species such as goats rabbits & feral pigs that devastate the flora and environment. They also benefit native herbivore populations such as kangaroos and wallabies, keeping their numbers in check and removing the weak, old or injured. Much like Lions do in Africa.
Since the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, the Dingo has been persecuted to near extinction because of the perception that they can not coexist with domestic stock. The same persecution that was directed at the wrongly accused Tasmanian Thylacine, and everyone is well aware how that ended up.
Current and past methods of Dingo & 'wild dog' control have exacerbated stock depredation issues.
The anecdotal 'evidence' of 'wild dog plagues' and 'dogs that ate the sheep industry' purported in heavily biased ABC rural media can directly be attributed to the past and present persecution of the Dingo.
Stable hierarchically intact Dingo packs will preferentially hunt macropods and other pre-European food sources. In 1788, four cattle wandered off from the Sydney colony, surely devoured by the local Dingoes? No, in 1795 a healthy herd of over forty cattle was discovered. The area was named 'Cow Pastures'.. Governor Macarthur quickly snapped up the region for himself began to kill the Dingoes for their perceived threat. Stock predation increased. The cycle began.
'Control' destabilises pack structure, removing the Alpha pair. This destabilised pack can no longer hunt preferential prey cooperatively, and will then turn to easier, less resource, energy required prey. Slow moving, flocking flighty sheep, or weak young calves.
These juveniles, or dispersed adults will now attempt to set up new territory and their own/new pack. Once subordinate female pack members, previously prevented from breeding by their Alpha female will now all come into season and will couple with the first viable mate they encounter. In many cases, this will be a domestic dog, working dog or dumped hunting dog. Their fertile hybrid offspring now have the genetic ability to conceive and produce 2 litters per year, as opposed to the single annular breeding cycle of the Alpha female Dingo.
Yes Dingoes do take some stock, but I would argue that statistically, more sheep and cattle die due to poor husbandry methods or en-route via live export transport. The 'acceptable' mortality rates for live export are around 5% . Deaths due to predation by Dingoes and 'wild dogs' is far less than this figure, so why is this much lesser amount not acceptable? The reported losses of sheep to Dingoes & 'wild dogs' in a given year in Victoria and New South Wales are at only around 3,600 and 1,200. Given that Victoria and New South Wales house upwards of 20,000,000 and 35,200,000 sheep, these losses could barely even be represented by a crumb on a pie chart or a percentage of just 0.02%.
The reported 'costs' of many 10's of millions of dollars to the pastoral industry because of 'wild dogs' is NOT the value of the stock 'lost' to predation but the 'cost' of ineffectual lethal 'control' programs. Bounties, aerial & ground baiting, trapping, 'control' professionals etc.
The cost of actual lost stock is a mere fraction of this reported 'cost' to the industry. These millions of dollars should be directed to more effective programs such as education, exclusion fencing, livestock guardians, fladry techniques and pastoral compensation for verified predation losses. Some states in the USA have implemented such programs with great success and a reduction in associated 'costs' and reduction in predation by Wolf and Coyote statistics..
http://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/610.150
http://www.predatorfriendly.org/
http://www.defenders.org/…/oregon-passes-landmark-wolf-coex…
http://www.dingobiodiversity.com/
230+years of the persecution in Australia of it's native Dingoes has NOT worked and as said, is making the situation much worse. Time to change methods. The insanity of current lethal control methods must stop!
The cruelty inflicted by these methods is abhorrent and has no place in a civilised society in the 21st century. In 1863, Charles Darwin described the leg hold trap as the cruellest device ever invented by man and offered a 50£ prise for anyone who could devise an alternative. Over 150 year later the same device is still legal to be used on Dingoes in Australia. Toothed jawed traps are 'prescribed' inhumane devices, Strychnine & Cyanide is a 'prescribed' inhumane toxin, yet all are permitted to be used to kill Dingoes. If these methods were employed to kill a domestic dog in a back yard, the RPSCA would prosecute to the full extent of animal welfare legislation, yet they are 'hand bound' by 'pest status' legislation that permits the use of these methods to eradicate Dingoes, exempting those who employ them from animal cruelty prosecution.
And then we have 1080. NOT a naturally occurring substance derived from the Gastrolobium pea plants found in Australia. Australian natives have a supposed immunity to the toxin, yet it is specifically used in New Zealand to kill native Australian Possums that have become invasive.
It is a synthetically concentrated artificial toxin borne of War as a device to terrorise civilian populations. It was developed independently by both Allied and Axis scientists in WWII. 1080 is acutely toxic to humans, concentrated, colourless, tasteless odourless, stable, highly water soluble, results in a delayed & agonising death. NO ANTIDOTE. Designed to be secreted into domestic water supplies to kill civilians.http://www.wadingo.com/1080truth.pdf
This artificial toxin has been found by the RSPCA to be 'Cruel and Inhumane', yet we dump it across our ecosystem, causing Dingoes to die in agony and poisoning the Australian ecosystem from the ground up. 1080 is banned in its country of manufacture, the USA, and worldwide because of the inhumane nature of death, environmental impact and threat to human safety. Why is it still used in Australia when the threats are known?
IT'S TIME FOR CHANGE!
There is overwhelming scientific evidence that the Dingo, as our only terrestrial Apex predator is vital for a healthy balanced ecosystem, yet the Dingo is still not even listed in the current Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
The Dingo must be included in this Legislation under it's correct Taxonomy, Canis sp.dingo.
Citizen's Petition with 5678 signatories submitted to Senate by Senator Waters, 9th May 2012 sits on the Table and requires your action.
http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/…/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType=appl…
Dingoes, Canis sp.dingo to be 'excluded from declaration' on the 'List of Declared Animals' (Agriculture and related resources Act 1976) (WA) (Similar exclusions to be enacted in other Australian States & territories)
There must be uniform FEDERAL legislation giving the Dingo protection as a VULNERABLE NATIVE SPECIES as recognised internationally by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
Inhumane & barbaric methods of 'control' must cease immediately! It should not be a defence of law to be legally cruel because of an animal's 'status'.. This is the 21st century!
A HALT on all control practices in areas of no pastoral or agricultural significance.
The creation of REAL conservation areas in WA (and other States & Territories) where Pure Dingo populations are FULLY protected.
The formation of a Conservation and Research establishment, dedicated to the Dingo.
A complete and independent review of wild dog / Dingo management programs and practices, with special regards to animal welfare and consideration given to published scientific evidence regarding the Dingo's role in the Australian ecosystem and NET benefits to native Fauna & Flora biodiversity when stable pack structure is retained.
Again:
Will you be the Minister that permitted the Dingo to go the way of the Thylacine? Or will you be the Minister that will be applauded by future Australian generation for saving them?
This is your watch, what will you do???
Kind regards,
Leigh Mullan
WA Dingo Association
Vice President