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Why did I feel the need to start this myspace page?

It started as I took up a driving job that entailed extensive travel around our vast country. It never failed to excite me each time I spied our wonderful native wolf, the dingo off in the bush. There is nothing like spying these magnificent creatures as the sun is going down and the red light dances on their coats. However I also started seeing areas that had dingo x dogs that were in very poor condition and not doing so well and it forced me to look into the dingo issue more thoroughly. It was then that I became appalled at what I found out. I, like many other Australians out there had no idea that our government has them on the vermin list and wishes to eradicate them completely. In some states there is still a $50.00 bounty on their heads.

I also had no idea that they were extensively using the poison 1080 and just last year Minister Bob Debus authorised the aerial baiting of Kosciusko National Park with 1080 which, has killed some of the magnificent Alpine dingoes that reside there.

And let's look at this widely used poison 1080. Again until I researched more into it, I like many other Australians, just accepted it and got used to seeing the signs on forest gates and neighbouring properties. We all assume it is a humane quick acting poison. It is in fact one of the most dangerous poisons around. There is NO 2ND CHANCE with this poison. Even the Nazi's stopped using it in the death camps due to the affect it was having on the users. After all these years following WWII, there is still NO antidote to this poison. 1 tspn of this poison can kill up to 30 fully grown men. It's affects are VERY inhumane. The animal can suffer from 4hrs - 4 days in excrutiating pain. They scream, they vomit, they defecate in between going into severe and incredibly painful spasms. Australia and New Zealand are two of the last few countries that use this poison. Even Tasmania banned it late last year. Countries like Thailand banned it years ago.

One of the arguments put forward to justify this genocide is that the dingo only arrived here around 5,000 plus years ago, therefore isn't native. Ermm... I think that is long enough for it to have earned it's Australian Citizenship!! It is as Australian as the Aboringinal people. They would certainly have more claim to citizenship then the white Europeans that came here just over 200 years ago. The dingo had more then enough time to evolve with the ecosystems here and are now an integral part of keeping them healthy.

At the end of the day I don't want my children growing up and looking at old footage and pictures of dingos and wondering what dingos felt like and what they really looked like, much as our generation does today with the recently extinct Thylacine. I am sure you don't want yours either to be doing the same thing and cursing our generation for such narrow mindedness. Let's get this Aussie Icon protected and off the vermin register where it should not belong, so future generations can admire this beautiful animal.

Please take the time to view the videos below, especially the first one. Don't let the initial picture put you off, it is a very moving presentation by Dingodaz.com and helps get the message across

DINGO NATION WIDE MEDIA FOCUS

DINGO

*By all definitions is a native animal which, is historically documented by all explorers from 1600's onwards. It has adapted and evolved to be a unique Australian species over 5 - 10,000 years. Rock art and fossil remains are evidence of the antiquity of the species as a naturally evolved canine, without any of the specific selected traits associated with interference by man. The dingo colonised the entire mainland of Australia, yet is now only to be found in remote and inaccessible fragmented habitats not seen as useful to humans.

* The Dingo is now scientifically proven to be a keystone trophic modulator for bio-diversity in all its habitats. Where the dingo is in stable social habitation, small native species survive in a healthy state including Bilbies, Quolls and rare wallabies and possums. Where the dingo has been "controlled" read: exterminated - these same small native creatures have fallen into local extinction due to fox and cat predation. After 100 years of the Dingo Barrier fence, the once "fertile pasture" is now nothing but barren bedrock, while the "outside" continues to support healthy native vegetation and many rare species.

* The dingo is our only natural selective suppressant of foxes, feral cats, rabbits, wild pigs and goats. Non-selective toxins can never hope to emulate natural modulation by predator species. All healthy ecosystems exhibit healthy prey species such as eagles, small raptors and goannas. Where they are absent - so is biodiversity. That is the key to the aboriginal regard for the dingo.

* While snakes and raptors enjoy recently bestowed protection, the dingo is the only native species to still be listed as a "pest animal" and "vermin". Listed as "protected" in National Parks, but since the handover of management to the States, has been subject to aerial baiting with 1080, and now seriously endangered - particularly the alpine varieties of the eastern seaboard. There is a recently introduced bounty on Victoria's vanishing dingo.

* Facts regarding the economics of predation DO NOT SUPPORT the claims made by "pasture protection bodies". When the truth is reviewed thoroughly the dingo has little or no economic impact on Australian sheep flocks.

* The dingo is entrenched in aboriginal folklore and a totem spirit in many parts of Australia. It is an icon of Australian heritage.

* The wild dingo, far from being an aggressive animal towards man is, on the contrary naturally shy and reserved. In captive conditions the extremely intelligent dingo is fully capable of being trained to be a companion to man. Dingoes will not attack humans unprovoked. Documented and authenticated serious dingo interactions are extremely rare - less than five in our history, yet each year dogs attack 10,000 to 15,000 humans.

* The dingo is the first CANID to have succeeded in communication across the species barrier, thus being able, under certain conditions, to be tamed, but not domesticated by humans, It is a species which falls between wolf and domesticated dog.

Anybody who can come up with sensible solutions to a major problem.

I also want to thank Nic Papalia at the WA Dingo Association for giving kind permission to use photos etc from their website. Their website can be found at

http://www.wadingo.com/index.htm

And Lyn Watson from the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and Research Centre.

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~dingolyn/index.html

and

http://www.dingofoundation.org.au/research.html

They are doing a wonderful but very difficult and frustrating job of trying to save this animal for us all to enjoy. Please take the time to visit their websites as they are full of information and they need your support.

I would also like to meet all other groups and people out there that are also working tirelessly to achieving these aims as I know you also are doing such fabulous work.

HOW CAN I HELP?

"But after reading this, what can I do?" I hear you say. Please, please take the time to contact the Minister for Environment. It takes just a couple of minutes to do and is only a couple of short minutes from your life. It is also a couple of short minutes that is incredibly valuable to our dingo and could just make the difference. And if you live outside Australia??? ... the same!! The only way the government will listen is if this is brought to the worldwide stage and they are shamed into changing their practices.

CONTACT DETAILS

Federal Minister for the Environment:

Mr Peter Garrett - Federal Minister of Environment Address: PO Box 249, Maroubra, New South Wales, Australia, 2035

Phone: (02) 6277 7640

Fax: (02) 6273 6101

Email: Peter.Garrett.MP@aph.gov.au