Farmers fear breeders behind rise in dingoes

Now other landholders face the same horror - or worse - if new dingoes sighted in the region are not controlled.

Mr and Mrs Hawkins fear a misguided dingo enthusiast could be breeding and releasing wild dogs in the Dubbo region.

They have called for a ban on private captive dingo breeding programs and want to debunk the view that dingoes should be encouraged to roam all over Australia.

“There are people out there who think farmers have no rights,’’ Mrs Hawkins said.

“Dingoes are not native to this country. They are dangerous and unpredictable and not meant to be domesticated. We have lost sheep but people could be next. Children have been killed by dingoes on Fraser Island and in the Northern Territory.’’

Livestock Health and Pest Authority senior ranger Lisa Thomas has endorsed the Hawkins’ call for private dingo breeding programs to be outlawed.

She said keeping dingoes was permitted under strict conditions through the Department of Industry and Investment.

“Dingoes have to be registered and any breeding must be strictly monitored and appropriately actioned,’’ Ms Thomas said.

“People breeding dingoes outside the law may think they are doing a wonderful thing returning ‘native’ animals to the wild. They pose a serious threat to livestock and native species.’’

Ms Thomas said authorities hoped dingoes photographed by movement-activated infra-red cameras at Mendooran and Mogriguy were solitary animals “at this stage”.

She said corrective measures were needed to stop dingoes in the Dubbo district increasing to pack numbers.

Mr and Mrs Hawkins agree. In 2008 a dingo created havoc on their Collie Road property, 45km from Dubbo.

“It was living in scrub on a neighbouring property and stayed four months before it was eventually shot by a local,’’ Mrs Hawkins said.

“For the first month it was only attacking sheep on the weekends, which was not typical dingo behaviour. It didn’t eat what it killed and appeared to be well fed which led to suspicions someone was breeding and releasing dingoes in the region.

“After a month the dingo started attacking five to six fully grown sheep and lambs every night. The injured livestock were gutted and left alive in a terrible condition with their entrails dragging on the ground. My husband had to put them down.’’

Mr Hawkins and his son and daughter started camping in the paddocks in an effort to protect the stock. They saw the dingo’s eyes late at night before it ran away.

“After losing 78 per cent of our lambs we had to bring all the breeding stock close to the house,’’ Mrs Hawkins said.

“Mis-mothering was a problem and many lambs died because the flock was constantly scattered in terror by the dingo. We tried baiting but the dingo was cunning and dug out the baits and just left them lying on the ground.’’

The August to December reign of terror ended when the dingo was shot. A short time later more dingoes were shot by landholders at Ballimore and Mendooran. The deaths followed large stock losses.

The LHPA, National Parks, State Forests and local landholders met in Dubbo yesterday to discuss fox baiting programs and the need to deal with dingoes moving into the region.