A Jirrbal woman is prioritizing dingo conservation, even if it means breaking the law, due to the animal’s cultural significance to her family and creation story. Sonya Takau is part of a network rescuing dingo pups and relocating them to sanctuaries, despite legislation classifying them as restricted, invasive animals.
Dingo pup Billy was rescued from the side of the road in northern Queensland. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
Under Queensland legislation, landholders are permitted to shoot or trap dingoes or wild dogs that pose a threat to livestock. Dingoes are only protected within national parks or designated areas.
Dingo Conservation and Indigenous Lore
Ms. Takau said government legislation is offensive because it disregards the lore that existed on the lands before colonization. She believes dingoes are family and must be protected, as her family’s totem is the dingo and the black-and-tan rainforest dingo is part of her creation story. “We strongly believe that when we die, we go back into the being of our totems or where our language name comes from,” she said.
Dingo pup Billy would likely have died if he had not been rescued. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
Call to End Dingo Deaths
Queensland’s Wild Dog Management Strategy is set for review and renewal next year. Ms. Takau hopes the review will include input from First Nations people, advocating for a “friendlier” and “more humane” coexistence between graziers and dingoes.
In 2023, the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation hosted a dingo forum to discuss management methods and legislation from a First Nations perspective. As a result, 20 First Nations groups signed the National Dingo Declaration, recognizing the dingo as a sacred animal and calling for an end to lethal control.
A dingo seen on a camera trap set up by Girringun Rangers. (Supplied: Girringun Aboriginal Corporation)
The Australian Dingo Foundation believes the species is under threat in parts of Victoria, New South Wales, and southern Queensland due to lethal control practices and urban/agricultural expansion. Victoria recently enacted protections making it illegal to kill dingoes in parts of the state’s north-west, though this has been criticized by graziers reporting stock losses.
Cost to Landholders
The Queensland Feral Pest Initiative has spent $19.8 million over the past decade helping landholders build cluster fencing to protect properties from dingoes and wild dogs, with an additional $9.3 million committed by the federal government. The cost of wild dog attacks on livestock across Australia is estimated at $90 million annually.
A Department of Primary Industries spokesperson said the funding has protected nearly 6 million hectares of sheep-producing properties. Paul Doneley, representing AgForce on a government advisory committee, said wild dogs have always been a problem, but numbers have increased with the growth of small stock farming.
Paul Doneley says many farmers have moved away from sheep and smaller livestock due to dog attacks. (ABC News: Hannah Walsh)
Mr. Doneley said cluster fencing costs between $5,000 and $7,000 per kilometer in materials, potentially rising to $10,000-$15,000 today, and requires collaboration between neighboring properties. He noted increasing red tape around poisons and baits is hindering landholder efforts.
Wild Dog or Dingo?
Ms. Takau believes the term ‘wild dog’ should not be used for dingoes. Recent studies suggest hybridization is less prevalent than previously thought, with almost two-thirds of dingoes being purebred, particularly in Queensland, the Northern Territory, and Western Australia.
Dingo dens are being destroyed as land is cleared for farming. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
Additional reporting by Hannah Walsh and Maddelin McCosker.
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