Review of the management of feral animals and their impact on ...

wallabies, but <strong>the</strong>ir value in controlling <strong>the</strong>se species is sometimes limited <strong>and</strong>
overstated.
Distribution
Formerly found throughout Australia but now exterminated from most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
Rangel<strong>and</strong>s in New South Wales, sou<strong>the</strong>rn Queensl<strong>and</strong> (except <strong>the</strong> far south-west)
<strong>and</strong> south-eastern South Australia. Control <strong>of</strong> dingoes is most intense in sheep
producing regions in Queensl<strong>and</strong>, New South Wales, South Australia <strong>and</strong> Western
Australia.
Dingoes, unlike foxes <strong>and</strong> cats, must drink regularly, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir range in arid areas is
limited by access to water.
Dingoes were first bred in South-east Asia from an Asian subspecies <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> wolf
(Canis lupus), <strong>and</strong> introduced into Australia, presumably by Indonesian seafarers,
about 3 500 to 4 000 thous<strong>and</strong> years ago.
Impacts
Dingoes are <strong>of</strong>ten blamed for <strong>the</strong> past disappearance from mainl<strong>and</strong> Australia <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
thylacine, Tasmanian devil <strong>and</strong> Tasmanian native hen (Low 1999), although Wroe
<strong>and</strong> Johnson (2003-04) argue that changes in Aboriginal culture (intensification)
could have caused <strong>the</strong>se extinctions.
Dingoes are considered to occupy a legitimate place in Australian ecosystems. They
were introduced so long ago <strong>the</strong>y are now integrated into natural environments, where
<strong>the</strong>y help control numbers <strong>of</strong> kangaroos <strong>and</strong> wallabies which might o<strong>the</strong>rwise
overgraze native vegetation, <strong>and</strong> exert some control over <strong>feral</strong> rabbits, cats, foxes,
pigs <strong>and</strong> especially goats. Because dingoes were introduced to Australia by people
<strong>the</strong>y should not, however, be called ‘native dogs’. Most dingo populations are now
interbred with more recently introduced dogs.
In some situations, under changed circumstances, dingoes have become a threat to
rare species. The most dramatic instance has arisen in central Queensl<strong>and</strong>, where in
2000-01, dingoes killed seven critically endangered hairy-nosed wombats out <strong>of</strong> a
total population <strong>of</strong> only 113 (Torr 2004). The only reserve in which <strong>the</strong> wombats
occur, Epping Forest National Park, has since been fenced at a cost <strong>of</strong> $400 000 to
exclude dingoes.
Ano<strong>the</strong>r significant concern is dingoes <strong>and</strong> dogs preying on <strong>the</strong> eggs <strong>of</strong> endangered
freshwater <strong>and</strong> marine turtles. Evidence has recently been obtained to show that two
threatened freshwater turtles in Queensl<strong>and</strong> – <strong>the</strong> vulnerable Fitzroy River turtle
(Rheodytes leukops), <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Burnett River snapping turtle (Elseya albigula) – are
losing most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir eggs to predators, including foxes, dingoes, dogs, pigs, cats,
goannas <strong>and</strong> water rats (C. Limpus pers. comm.). This problem is considered fur<strong>the</strong>r
in Section 7. Olive Ridley turtles <strong>and</strong> vulnerable flatback turtles along <strong>the</strong> Nor<strong>the</strong>rn
Territory coast east <strong>of</strong> Darwin are also suffering from unacceptably high predation
rates (R. Chatto pers. comm.). Here, dog <strong>and</strong> dingo predation is not thought to have
increased, but turtle numbers have declined so seriously that any predation <strong>of</strong> eggs is
significant. Ray Chatto <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Territory Parks <strong>and</strong> Wildlife Commission is
preparing a report on this matter which may recommend dog control at ‘hotspot’ sites,
nearly all <strong>of</strong> which occur on Indigenous l<strong>and</strong>s (Section 9).
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