THE DINGO IS UNLOVED BY MOST PASTORALISTS.

We all know that the dingo is unloved by most pastoralists. But some pioneering pastoralists are transitioning to predator-friendly management. In sheep grazing properties, pastoralists are successfully working with guardian animals such as Maremma dogs. In cattle grazing regions, pastoralists are finding that calf losses often decline when they stop baiting. We need them to speak up so as others may follow. For well over two centuries, it has been shot, poisoned, and hounded for its predatory habits. Purebred dingoes have become rare in most of their former haunts across the continent, particularly in the high country of the Great Divide. While it resembles a domestic dog (Canis familiaris), the dingo is now acknowledged at species level as Canis Dingo following the description by Crowther et al, in the journal of zoology (2014). The Australian government also accepts that the dingo is a native species and is aware of the research on the ecological benefits of apex predators such as the dingo.

In the 1880s, graziers and state governments built a 5614km dingo-proof fence to keep the dingoes out of south-eastern Australia, an enterprise that now seems ill-conceived, given that there are still substantial populations of dingoes on both sides of the fence. But the dingo fence, and persistent trapping, shooting and baiting, have almost extinguished dingoes in the semi-arid rangelands of south-western Queensland, NSW, SA and Victoria. You may be lucky to see dingoes on the beach in East Gippsland's Croajingalong National Park. The dingo occasionally is guilty of preying on livestock, but cops undeserved bad press for much of the havoc wrought by roaming packs of wild dogs and dingo-dog hybrids. Trapping and baiting can actually worsen dingo predation, if they result in the death of the Alpha (dominant) male and female, who actively suppress breeding by other adults in their pack. Recent evidence shows that dingoes actually render a valuable service to graziers, and to the environment, by competing with – and preying upon – feral predators like foxes and cats, as well as controlling rabbit and roo numbers. They also positively benefit other native fauna and flora. Dingoes are the only predator that can naturally keep our ecosystems healthy like these two healthy pups...