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Durong Dingo Sanctuary


Spoony
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Sunday just gone I did the 300km drive from my place (Brisbane South) up to Durong Dingo Sanctuary (northwest of Kingaroy).

Armed with the camera it was one of the best day's I've had in ages, didn't leave till 8pm and wasn't home till after 11pm! lol.

If any of you what The Project or read the paper there was a story done about Zahra Chamberlain (Daughter of Michael Chamberlain) and her support and interest in the Dingoes survival. This was shot at Durong Sanctuary. Would have been nice to see the media making money from the story/dingoes perhaps chip in with a donation too.

http://tenplay.com.au/channel-ten/the-project/top-stories-september-2014/chamberlain-devoted-to-dingoes

Durong Dingo Sanctuary is the only Dingo park in Queensland, and is the only QLD location that has been allowed to breed Dingoes.

The park is privately owned and run by Simon, all funded off his own back, which comes out of his disability pension and funds left from selling off what cattle he had left after drought etc.

It's not so much a 'tourist' type park/attraction, but visits are possible by arrangement.

As no doubt some of you know Dingoes are somewhat of a persecuted native animal in Australia, and especially Queensland where outside of National Parks (a small % of the state) they have the same pest classification as a Cane Toad or Rabbit !! Ironic really when they are the best resource to keep pests such as rabbits, foxes and feral cats in check while also keeping native control of Kangaroos etc.

Dingoes are inhumanly trapped, shot and baited using 1080 (banned in most civilized countries), so their existence as a pure species combined with wild domestic dogs is somewhat under threat.

Simon's aim with the park is to breed pure Dingoes (DNA tested) from a wide area of Australia (Alpine, far north, west etc) to ensure their continued survival in the wild and captivity. He aims to expand education of this miss understood animal, which is very important to Australia's ecological balance.

BioSecuity Queensland (QLD Government) decided to change their mind and wanted all his 18 Dingoes desexed, a bit silly really given the entire purpose of the park! After discussions they have paused breeding for now and have put further requirements on the park, to have more encloses to separate the Dingoes in breeding season. Given his funding is all personal, this has become a big stretch. His raised some money through the help of Zahra and her efforts online, the media story has helped a little too. So I've included links below to the Sanctuary's Facebook page and funding page if any dog loves feel it's a worthy cause and want to help out.

I myself plan to assist in the future where I can, I love dogs, I love animals and the Dingo is our native dog and deserves better than what the Governments and Industry are affording them.

https://www.facebook.com/durongdingosanctuary?fref=ts

A Youtube video someone has done up for him

The Funding site

http://www.gofundme.com/savethedingoes?

............

Ok now on with the pictures! It was utterly magic taking them. I thought about how I could con Simon in to swapping houses haha. They are such characters, so gentle, just sitting and waiting them out until they got comfortable enough to come closer, perhaps lick, have a little play tug with a stick was magic.

The entire album is here https://flic.kr/s/aHsk3FiCG9

15256979205_6d1ec6e17e_b.jpgDurong Dingo Sanctuary QLD Australia http://www.gofundme.com/savethedingoes by dPphodography, on Flickr

15256976995_c8e80ebfda_b.jpgDurong Dingo Sanctuary QLD Australia http://www.gofundme.com/savethedingoes by dPphodography, on Flickr

15233961606_e244879778_b.jpgDurong Dingo Sanctuary QLD Australia http://www.gofundme.com/savethedingoes by dPphodography, on Flickr

15070409638_847cf1211a_b.jpgDurong Dingo Sanctuary QLD Australia http://www.gofundme.com/savethedingoes by dPphodography, on Flickr

15070402358_7301a17191_b.jpgDurong Dingo Sanctuary QLD Australia http://www.gofundme.com/savethedingoes by dPphodography, on Flickr

15070398528_b77819de51_b.jpgDurong Dingo Sanctuary QLD Australia http://www.gofundme.com/savethedingoes by dPphodography, on Flickr

15070394327_d52bdc58e6_b.jpgDurong Dingo Sanctuary QLD Australia http://www.gofundme.com/savethedingoes by dPphodography, on Flickr

15256937575_80238c0460_b.jpgDurong Dingo Sanctuary QLD Australia http://www.gofundme.com/savethedingoes by dPphodography, on Flickr

Edited by Spoony
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Oh my oh my Spoony, dingoes are such amazing creatures the photos you have got are incredible. Looking at them made me think they should be in a book. I have no idea how these things are done but if a book could be made and the money from sales to go to the sanctuary, that'd be awesome. Or to keep it simpler, a calendar maybe? Gorgeous gorgeous photos :thumbsup:

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"As no doubt some of you know Dingoes are somewhat of a persecuted native animal in Australia, and especially Queensland where outside of National Parks (a small % of the state) they have the same pest classification as a Cane Toad or Rabbit !! Ironic really when they are the best resource to keep pests such as rabbits, foxes and feral cats in check while also keeping native control of Kangaroos etc"

I'm not sure if the answer is that simplistic. What about threat to livelihoods ( fArming) and potential threat to human life. None of the other pests are quite so dangerous (except for a cornered, antagonised roo). I hate foxes and despise looking out my windows with one trotting down the paddock but if I looked out and saw a dingo you could bet I'd be reaching for a gun. Sorry, I love dingos and absolutely they should be bred and conserved but we are too populated now to have too many of them roaming free keeping down our introduced pests. Just my take on it, I'd be interested in other opinions.

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I've made the assumption in my reply (so disregard if incorrect and take it as general info/view), but I'd take a guess and say that you're are a farmer yourself? In which case you have a profit based vested interest. May I ask what sort of live stock farming if you do? Sheep, Cattle? Some trials and studies have shown that with cattle farming Dingoes can actually provide positive profits (lets not fool ourselves this is about money), by allowing the land to provide more feed by controlling rabbits, roos etc, this two fold helps with smaller native animals. They also assist in keeping water holes in better condition for the cattle by acting as a deterrent for cattle to simple hang around them all day or for excessive periods messing them up as many hooved animals can do.

These same trials have shown that incidents with Dingoes and cattle are very low, there is a rare low risk the odd calf may be taken but overall the positives far out weigh.

Sheep can be a bit of a different story, being a much easier target, especially if traditional food sources are scares for the Dingo. However there are alternatives, used all around the world that for some reason Australian's are not so willing to use? That's right we are far from the only country that farms live stock and also has top order predators that may interfere with our profit. Guardian dogs are just one option.

Dingoes are social pack animals, disrupting these bonds packs by shooting, baiting, trapping or whatever bonds only serves to makes issues worse. As would happen in a human pack (family). Allows easier infiltration of wild domestic dogs and also having effects on general behaviour.

I would also like to thing someone on a forum such as this is an animal lover and wouldn't support the inhumane treatment of our native creatures, 1080 baiting for example is a barbaric thing, banned in other countries but somehow acceptable practice here. Something our current rulers are looking at doubling to 4x a year instead of 2x , as we know they are in the pockets of the money makers.

Threat to human life? Really, clutching at straws now. Dangerous? They are far far more scared/wary of people than we need to be of them. I experienced this last weekend first hand, wild dingoes only fed, not hand raised .

You're right about one thing though, we (humans across the world) are too populated, and that simply is the problem, not the dingo, not the wolf, not the tiger, lion or whatever else. There are simply too many humans on this planet and for financial gain, be it yours or whoever elses it comes down to scarifying native animals, often top order predators to start with, essential to the overall ecological balance. But if you feel that this isn't the case, nor important and as you put such animals should only be conserved to look at through cages then I feel that's a very sad view to have on our planet all for the sake of money.

Edited by Spoony
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Great response Spoony.

I think in Australia we really are lucky considering the lack of top predators. In America the gray wolf was protected under the Endangered species Act from 1975 to 2011. This is an animal that is quite capable of taking down prey like moose and bison (I don't think my parents Angus cattle would have a hope in hell) and farmers simply weren't allowed to kill them. In 2011 they were removed from the endangered species list and once again their survival is at risk.

It's a tough line to balance and I don't think any one person has the answer to keep everyone happy. It's a problem that, whilst can be managed to a certain degree I don't think will even be solved.

I was watching a documentary on the gray wolf in America years ago while staying on my parents farm, farmers were struggling to keep their livestock alive because they couldn't kill the wolves. My Mum jumps up and down and announces that the wolves were there first and therefore should be protected, I had to remind her that Dad was on the phone to the local roo shooter only a few hours before giving him permission to come on the property that night :doh:

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I think it's an incredible disservice to farmers to suggest they only care about the deaths and mauling of their animals because it hurts their profits. These are people who come out in the morning, sometimes every morning for days, to find the animals they are responsible for opened up and spread out across the grass, sometimes still alive. Hard to look at dingoes the same way after that.

I'm not pro or anti dingo, but I do see the argument play out a lot where each side accuses the other side of not caring about animals. Where in reality, each side is just choosing to care about the animal they are closest to. There's no winner here.

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Good points Leah82. Australian's seem to display disapproval and outrage at times for the treatment of native animals in other countries, yet ironically using the example of the Dingo for most the same isn't applied. Our governments impose some of the biggest restrictions of any country on the the way we can use our national parks and forests. For example try travelling Australia with your dog vs Europe or the USA, it's far easier with less restrictions. Some of them I can understand but it's hypocritical of the government to impose such restrictions for the good of nature on people yet be so pathetic in so many other ways! The Dingo vs Wolf example above! You could apply Lions, Tigers, Bears, etc etc.

A local example, one simply cannot travel up Teewah beach from Noosa to Inskip with their best mate (dog) now. Why, well they can't answer that with any logic, I have asked multiple departments. The true reason is bureaucratic BS, simply the national park now extends to the water line, where as before it was to the dunes. They'll claim it for 'nature' reason's while at the same time 1km over a stretch of water that takes us to Fraser Island we have QLD Parks and Wildlife go out and kill 3x random Dingoes. They will claim they were involved with the attack (minor, the bloke wasn't even airlifted out and even the paramedic said it was minor and his seen many single domestic dog attacks many many times worse. Twas largely torn cloths. If they were trying to take him down they would have easily). Anyways there is no way at night he could identify 3x random dingoes that the QPWS could then find later to kill. So why kill any at all? Why not re home them (the Sanctuary this thread is about has offered this countless times). Simply GovCo knee jerk reaction that will now cause pack disruption and more problems.

Weasels,

Yes I can see your point there. Hence why further education and alternative options are needed. Dingo advocates and no doubt farmers describe it as a war, which in a way it is. It shouldn't be. Dingoes as a whole work for the land, it's called biodiversity. Putting stock animals on the land is detrimental to this. But we live in a world over run by humans and their wants and desires, this isn't going to change anytime soon. From my view to argue it's acceptable to bait Dingoes to meet this wants is plain wrong, but others perhaps it's totally fine. Simply such people are inhumane, for them to argue it's to save the suffering of their sheep for example is hypocritical. They've just just moved the suffering to the original inhabitant. So why not work to use the Dingoes to better things. I recommend people watching Dingo: Wild Dog at War

. It shows the cattle example I mentioned. So there's a whole breed of stock farming which takes up heaps of land that can co exist with the Dingoes when done correctly.

As I said with sheep, look further than just killing, there are options, other countries have them in play.

Edited by Spoony
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1411075788[/url]' post='6564988']

I've made the assumption in my reply (so disregard if incorrect and take it as general info/view), but I'd take a guess and say that you're are a farmer yourself? In which case you have a profit based vested interest. May I ask what sort of live stock farming if you do? Sheep, Cattle? Some trials and studies have shown that with cattle farming Dingoes can actually provide positive profits (lets not fool ourselves this is about money), by allowing the land to provide more feed by controlling rabbits, roos etc, this two fold helps with smaller native animals. They also assist in keeping water holes in better condition for the cattle by acting as a deterrent for cattle to simple hang around them all day or for excessive periods messing them up as many hooved animals can do.

These same trials have shown that incidents with Dingoes and cattle are very low, there is a rare low risk the odd calf may be taken but overall the positives far out weigh.

Sheep can be a bit of a different story, being a much easier target, especially if traditional food sources are scares for the Dingo. However there are alternatives, used all around the world that for some reason Australian's are not so willing to use? That's right we are far from the only country that farms live stock and also has top order predators that may interfere with our profit. Guardian dogs are just one option.

Dingoes are social pack animals, disrupting these bonds packs by shooting, baiting, trapping or whatever bonds only serves to makes issues worse. As would happen in a human pack (family). Allows easier infiltration of wild domestic dogs and also having effects on general behaviour.

I would also like to thing someone on a forum such as this is an animal lover and wouldn't support the inhumane treatment of our native creatures, 1080 baiting for example is a barbaric thing, banned in other countries but somehow acceptable practice here. Something our current rulers are looking at doubling to 4x a year instead of 2x , as we know they are in the pockets of the money makers.

Threat to human life? Really, clutching at straws now. Dangerous? They are far far more scared/wary of people than we need to be of them. I experienced this last weekend first hand, wild dingoes only fed, not hand raised .

You're right about one thing though, we (humans across the world) are too populated, and that simply is the problem, not the dingo, not the wolf, not the tiger, lion or whatever else. There are simply too many humans on this planet and for financial gain, be it yours or whoever elses it comes down to scarifying native animals, often top order predators to start with, essential to the overall ecological balance. But if you feel that this isn't the case, nor important and as you put such animals should only be conserved to look at through cages then I feel that's a very sad view to have on our planet all for the sake of money.

Just jumping on a plane so have to be brief. I think you've misunderstood me, I'm not meaning to clutch at straws it was just my very simplistic opinion, I don't profess to know much at all about it. Yes, I was raised on the land, sheep and cattle. Now just a hobby farmer small acreage and breed poultry. I hate 1080 awful stuff, yes family have used it a lot and have seen working dogs also lose their lives because of it. I have livestock guardian dogs but they've really only come to the fore here in oz more recently. Mention it to the old timer farmers and they look at me blankly. I am interested in what you are saying, as I said my view is very simplistic and probably resonates with most of the general public from farming backgrounds. Intersted in the other dingo prevention options for sheep farmers as you said lgd's just the one option? Sorry for typos, in a rush, in hawaii ATM so Aloha!

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1411082346[/url]' post='6565035']

I think it's an incredible disservice to farmers to suggest they only care about the deaths and mauling of their animals because it hurts their profits. These are people who come out in the morning, sometimes every morning for days, to find the animals they are responsible for opened up and spread out across the grass, sometimes still alive. Hard to look at dingoes the same way after that.

I'm not pro or anti dingo, but I do see the argument play out a lot where each side accuses the other side of not caring about animals. Where in reality, each side is just choosing to care about the animal they are closest to. There's no winner here.

Not just profits but lives!! Livelihoods!!

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Cheers Snook

Just jumping on a plane so have to be brief. I think you've misunderstood me, I'm not meaning to clutch at straws it was just my very simplistic opinion, I don't profess to know much at all about it. Yes, I was raised on the land, sheep and cattle. Now just a hobby farmer small acreage and breed poultry. I hate 1080 awful stuff, yes family have used it a lot and have seen working dogs also lose their lives because of it. I have livestock guardian dogs but they've really only come to the fore here in oz more recently. Mention it to the old timer farmers and they look at me blankly. I am interested in what you are saying, as I said my view is very simplistic and probably resonates with most of the general public from farming backgrounds. Intersted in the other dingo prevention options for sheep farmers as you said lgd's just the one option? Sorry for typos, in a rush, in hawaii ATM so Aloha!

Hawaii !!! Nice.

OK fair enough, it's good as a farmer that you're open to options. You do however somewhat highlight the current problem, and that is the wide spread closed mindset that seems to be the majority of farmers and the government. This video here is recent, somewhat drawn out but the woman in red (a professor) makes some good points about what is being discussed in this thread

As she states, Australian farmers with regards to predators have it somewhat easy, a small (relative) top order predator vs other continents with much larger and diverse predators, yet many/most without the attitude toward them as with the Dingo.

There are farmers opting not to bait and kill dingoes, and as mentioned in the video they are then somewhat viewed as the enemy in this war. The points in the video make sense, the land simply needs biodiversity to be sustainable, be it on it's on or with live stock.

Shepard dogs, Alpaca's, Donkey's, even Camels have been seen to be effective with regards to Dingoes and sheep. As mentioned previously it's a non issue with Cattle, so cattle farmers have no excuse.

A Cattle farmer's own view on this http://www.theland.com.au/news/agriculture/general/opinion/dingoes-can-be-allies/2710650.aspx?storypage=0

As the video mentions Dingoes have an ordered pack structure and by destroying this by baiting, shooting etc it can make things worse in the way the act and behave. H

I do wonder has any farmer or government even done a cost/profit based analysis (if at all possible) on controlling/exterminating Dingoes and inturn the greater number of other pests, combined with reduced land resources due to more roos, rabbits and the like VS's the losses from taken stock (cattle, non issue, sheep yes can be some) ? I haven't seen anything.

Here's another article from a farmers view

http://www.gympietimes.com.au/news/1080-no-solution-scientists/2379862/?ref=hs

It seems actual science, research, and trials are proving that the Dingo is a positive thing, and where the can be issues there are better alternatives. What is happening now is simply a slaughter in the name of profit based on killing fixes everything. Firstly the Dingoes pest classification in certain states need to be removed and farmers need education and a change in attitude, starting with cattle farmers.

I didn't actually intend for this thread to start such a discussion but I'm actually glad it has. Awareness and getting people thinking is key. It's all to easy to stay in the old mindset that has be 'the way we do things around here', and I'm sure that applies very much so on the land.

This site has this aim in mind http://www.dingobiodiversity.com/

Edited by Spoony
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