Queensland Environment Minister Must Initiate Independent Enquiry into Dingo Mismanagement and Cruelty on Fraser Island April 1, 2016
National Dingo Preservation and Recovery Program (Inc. A0051763G ) Thursday, April 1, 2016
President of the National Dingo Preservation and Recovery Program Inc. research veterinarian and animal ethics expert, Dr Ian Gunn, called on the Qld Environment Minister Dr Steven Miles, to initiate an independent inquiry into cruelty & mismanagement of the dingoes on Fraser Island. Dr Gunn said the recent inappropriate collaring of a juvenile dingo, which had caused the animal distress was the latest in a sequence of events which raise serious questions about animal welfare aspects of current dingo management on Fraser Island.
This incident involved the use of a heavy radio tracking collar on a juvenile dingo for purposes that appear unrelated to any current research program and therefore for a purpose unrelated to bulky and heavy design of the collar. Photographs taken by a tourist clearly show that the sharp edges of the heavy collar had worn away the fur on the dingo’s neck and would have unnecessarily interfered with the young dingo’s mobility and well-being. That the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service removed the collar after public criticism and the animal was found dead the following day raises more questions than it answers, Dr Gunn said.
Juvenile dingo with bulky/heavy collar 2016- These events follow an incident, in 2015, when another juvenile dingo was ‘humanely’ euthanised after allegedly becoming aggressive.
Necropsy photographs obtained through Queensland Right to Information legislation point to severe physical trauma prior to death. Dr Gunn, who conferred with senior veterinary colleagues over photographic evidence, concluded the dingo had suffered massive internal bleeding in the abdominal cavity consistent with a heavy blow or impact prior to being put down through lethal injection to the heart. There is no discussion of this evidence in the inadequate official necropsy report. Dr Gunn said: “ We have evidence of unacknowledged animal trauma and unanswered animal welfare questions.”
Necropsy report , October 2015 Internal bleeding within abdominal cavity – severe pre-death trauma
Possibly the most serious dingo cruelty incident at the hands of Queensland wildlife authorities occurred on Fraser Island in May 2011, as part of dingo trapping for radio collaring research. The necropsy report for this juvenile male dingo reads like a horror story. Upon examination of the report at the time, Dr Ian Gunn stated:
In all my years as a veterinary surgeon, I have never witnessed anything like this. This animal died in agony while trapped and restrained as part of ‘research’ being conducted by Queensland government authorities charged with its protection. The necropsy report stated that the otherwise healthy dingo had been restrained for ‘some period of time’. It had been pinned down by a pole noose and pinning device. It had chipped and fractured teeth, had extensive internal bleeding, including widespread bruising and haemorrhaging to the thorax, limbs, neck and lumbar spine region, bleeding from the eye, tearing of the muscles between the ribs and the chest wall, and congested and collapsed lungs. In its final moments of life, the dingo vomited its stomach contents into its airways.
Necropsy report 2011
The National Dingo Preservation and Recovery Program subsequently sent a solicitors’ letter to the relevant Queensland government departments and Ministers alleging serious breaches of the law and inadequate animal ethics practices relating to this incident. No acknowledgement was received, let alone action taken. Not one person was held to account.
“It is time for the buck to stop and it has to stop with the Queensland Minister”, Dr Gunn said today. “The Queensland government’s claim that the Fraser Island dingo population is being managed ‘humanely’ is now in serious doubt. The only way to get to the bottom of this mess and, it seems cover up, is to conduct a genuinely independent animal welfare inquiry into dingo management on Fraser Island. The Queensland wildlife authorities seem incapable of this themselves.”
Contact: Dr Ian Gunn BVSc. FACVSc.0427 387778 (mob.)ian.gunn@monash.edu
It seems there is not enough ongoing monitoring of some of these practises used on these
poor animals .
Yes it does need an inquiry immediately before any more animals suffer so unnecessary.
Please CARE.
Please put an end to the inhumane killing of dingoes on Fraser Island. These native dogs belong on the island and have a right to stay, but even if they needed to be removed they must be removed humanely.
This is just sickening. Surely we cannot allow cruelty like this to continue in our wonderful Australia.
I fail to comprehend what our elected representatives think when they see and hear the horrific outcomes of our top predator on Fraser island .
Insensitivity doesn’t even come close.
Surely it’s not that difficult to secure the longevity of the Dingo.
Tourists must comply with the guidelines when visiting zoos.
Why do tourists on Fraser island seem to be excluded from complying, and the dingo ends up loosing every time there’s confrontation with a tourist?
It is a national and international disgrace that these beautiful and intelligent animals are starved, collared, burned, shot and hidiously mistreated by tourists and wildlife officers alike. STop The Cruelty now and find a solution before the Dingoes on Fraser Island are gone forever.
Why do they need to be collared anyway?
Dingoes displaying abnormal behavioural traits need to be studied asap. Pack structure decimation could be the reason, inbreeding could be another. If dingoes are truly behaving more like a lion as indicated in the Incident reports then there has to be a reason. One explanation from a scientist was that the dingoes in question, displaying aggression may have been traumatised. On every level people are only guessing as to what has happened to the once very predictable, content non threatening animal. Has management caused this, has tourism? I’d like to ask readers if they think that a Sanctuary such as the one in Yellow Stone Park for wolves could work on the Island?
QPWS should be charged with animal cruelty and the gross neglect of their responsibility. Furthermore, control and the executive over the fate of individual dingoes and that of the entire population on Fraser Island should be stripped from QPWS.
An independent body with a more vast knowledge and deeper, compassionate understanding of the Fraser Island Dingo should replace QPWS immediately.
Never has this Native Australian animal suffered more than at the hands of QPWS. It is time their abusive, cruel and mismanaged authority was taken away from them. They have abused the privilege of protecting the Dingo for far too long.
It is time they lost that privilege and legally suffered the consequences of their cruelty – cruelty for which there can be no excuse.
I work as a volunteer at the Dingo Sanctuary at Bargo NSW We have approx 30 DNA tested pure Dingoes all of which are the most beautiful animals. They are most affectionate, loving and very intelligent dogs and deserve recognition as part of our heritage. The human race on our planet are the problem not the animals.
OMG this brutality & incompetence MUST stop and an Independent enquiry must begin into the mismanagement & cruelty dealt out by NPWS on Fraser Island. This is totally unacceptable and Queenslanders & ALL Australians have to speak out and demand a FAIR deal for our much maligned & long suffering Dingoes…….fugitives in their own land. This mismanagement /indifference & worse deliberate cruelty brings great shame upon our nation.Dingoes have suffered for long enough , both governments have been negligent & more concerned about tourist dollars than Dingo conservation. SHAME….
When will we stop the cruelty that we are imposing on these poor animals.
We are in an uproar over the hunting of whales as we should be, but we allow this on our own doorstep?
Thank You Dr. Gunn for exposing the cruelty visited upon the hapless Fraser Island dingoes over the past decade by sanctioned programs of successive Queensland governments. Community groups and individuals have brought this cruelty to the attention of Environment Ministers, who have done nothing, or worse, defended the discriminatory and inhumane practices of their departments. We must see a stop to this, and proper protection for this magnificent and innocent wild native animal. Dingoes must be protected. Dingoes must be respected. We should make an international campaign on a par with the Canadian campaign against clubbing their fur seals. The disgraceful treatment of Fraser Island dingoes is comparable.
Someone must be named and held to account. This abuse and torture must STOP!
This torture and abuse must stop. Someone must take responsibility!
as an animal activist, I’m appalled at what we see all the time about the fraser island Dingo and the way this remarkable animal has to put up with on the home it has always been theirs, what with tourist at times intentionally aiming their vehicles at them, some being killed in this horrible act, & the rangers moving them in no uncertain terms, & if people get to close to a playful & inquisitive animal & a playful nip occurs, they are hunted down and killed, I’m sure there is a much better way of managing these incidents by the relevant authorities than the way it is being dealt with…..thank you..
Why are the authorities allowing this? I cannot believe that those in power can be ignorant of this cruelty. But if they are not ignorant and allow this to continue, it is worse. They are fostering that breed of humans whose cruelty to animals will translate to callousness towards their own species. What is happening to the dingoes on Fraser Island should be listed as criminal. The dingoes have long been valued contributors to the eco-system, by controlling predators, and yet this is how they are rewarded.
Queensland beautiful one day and perfect the next? Until this situation is alleviated and respect and kindness is shown to helpless animals, Queensland will continue to be seen as a bunch of crude and cruel ignoramuses.
I would like to thank Dr Gunn for exposing the incidents of QPWS’s cruel treatment of Fraser Island’s dingoes.
These incidents and continuous culling of dingoes whenever they show aggression irrespective of people’s behaviour make it clearly evident that, in spite of the latest independent inquiry into the Fraser Island dingo management strategy, the QPWS’s management of the dingoes is totally inappropriate for not only the World Heritage Listed National Park, but even for any form of nature reserve.
I hope that this incident of cruelty will motivate enough public pressure on both the State and Federal governments to reformulate the Island’s management by prioritization of the Island’s biodiversity of which the dingoes as apex predators are of paramount importance over tourism
I tolally agree with Dr Gunn, it has to stop before the gene pool is gone. There food source is gone and they are starving. The dogs we better treated when Forestry people were in charge on the Island. STOP THE CRUELTY. NO MORE ELECTRIFIED GRIDS AND FENCES. BET SOME ETHETHIC’S BACK AND FEED THOSE DINGOS THAT ARE LEFT. A CONTENTED DONGO IS A FULL WELL FEED DINGO.
Three hundred thousand tourists a year on Fraser Island versus 160 wild dingoes!! It suggests a possible wealth of user park fees & user restrictions needing to be imposed for better care of all flora, fauna & particularly the dingo. Yet, despite this huge rate of visitors, many from overseas, who, we perceived disrespectfully drop cigarette butts everywhere & often showed scant regard for our precious bush & wildlife. We need to better manage the tourist influx to prioritise not only their safety, but more essentially the welfare of this one remaining pure strain of wild dingo. How is it possible that given the degree of ‘Wildlife Dingo Management on Fraser Island’ described by the QLD government on its website, we can clearly see that it’s just not working & the health & wellbeing of some 160 wild dingoes is a disgrace that needs immediate action. All recent reports of dingo degradation & mismanagement & our own family’s observation of these poor bedraggled creatures means that their loss is ultimately ours too.
Jennifer Parkhurst was find $ 40.000 with a three year suspended jail sentence for trying to keep a young, desperately starving dingo alive.
What must now be the punishment for the person who so cruelly mistreated this poor young dingo?