Another dingo attack on K’gari (Fraser Island) has again sparked concerns about visitor safety there.
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service rangers are closely monitoring the animal responsible for a recent incident where a 10-year-old boy was grabbed on the shoulder and dragged under water in front of a camping area on the west coast of the island.
Assistant Principal Ranger Danielle Mansfield said the boy was walking alone at the water’s edge when the incident occurred last week.
“The boy’s 12-year-old-sister who was nearby reacted quickly and ran to assist him,” Ms Mansfield said. “The family treated the boy for puncture wounds to his shoulder and arms and scratches and bruises on his collar bone and arm.”
The dingo responsible for the attack on a young boy. PIC: Picture: Queensland Department of Environment and Science
The boy did not suffer any serious injuries.
“Rangers identified the tagged wongari (dingo), and it was later seen loitering near the camping area, where it was digging up food scraps that had been buried in the sand,” Ms Mansfield said. “Rangers chased the animal away from the camping area and we have increased patrols in the region to monitor the wongari’s behaviour and pass on dingo-safe messaging to campers and visitors.”
Ms Mansfield said the dingo was highly habituated and was not showing any wariness of people.
“Rangers believe this animal is one of a number of wongari that have been deliberately or inadvertently fed which is why they’re showing no fear of people,” she said. “These animals are capable of inflicting serious harm, and they have bitten children and adults, and some are quite brazen are not fleeing when yelled at or when someone brandishes a stick.”
A recent attack on a French tourist was captured on film,. PIC: Picture: Queensland Department of Environment and Science
There has been a long history of dingo attacks on Fraser Island, including one recent one in which a French tourist was bitten while sunbathing.
Ms Mansfield said visitors and residents to the island must remain vigilant at all times, and cannot leave children and teenagers unsupervised.
“People think it won’t happen to them, but it can happen to anyone and that’s why rangers are providing dingo-safe information to as many people as possible,” she said. “We don’t want any incidents on K’gari, and people must understand that dingoes are wild animals and should never be fed or interacted with.”
She said people who think it is harmless to throw a sausage or discarded bait or fish frame to the dingoes have caused the current and historic problems we are having with these dingoes.
“Rangers have observed them lingering around camping areas and parked vehicles, and that means they’re trying to solicit food from visitors because they’ve previously been fed,” Ms Mansfield said. “This has to stop now, and people have to make their personal safety and the safety of their friends and families a priority.”
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We were on the island in the late 80s and there were signs everywhere not to feed the dingoes but people were still feeding them, no wonder they are not frightened of people.
Anybody caught feeding a dingo should be fined and kicked off the island and never be allowed to return. If it was up to me they should never be allowed in any other national park in Australia.
Surely the Dept of Tourism are the “guilty party” by allowing the tourists to mingle with the dingo population.
If the wild dogs with a predatory nature are allowed to thrive in their natural habitats, then tourism must erect safety compounds for the people to keep separated from the dingo population. This would not be popular with intending tourists, but it is the only safe thing to do, a reverse zoo in effect.
The same conundrum occurs with the crocodiles, they are allowed to breed up into such numbers that they encroach on townships, sometimes with catastrophic results.
Wild animals and humans must be forcibly separated for safety reasons, but if tourism operators are unwilling to do so because they will lose the visitor dollars, then people will be mauled and/or killed.
I was with friends at Fraser Island Resort for an evening meal and a Dingo walked into the restaurant and grabbed a leather handbag from another table, on the floor alongside the owner.
Friends who have been camping there with family since they were children and ever since have commented about applying common sense when a Dingo is around, and not allowing little children to wander alone.
I agree with all your comments. Culling of crocodiles should not have been stopped. There have been sightings off Stradbroke Island and around Bundaberg waters.
most people think of dingoes as just dogs, and they are totally wrong as they can never be totally socialised. They are hunters.
We have been to the Island and what amazes me is that the Dingoes have been there for a long time. It is a ISLAND and they have eaten out the animals on the ISLAND. They are hungry, relocate them back to the mainland so they can get a dissent feed.
Sorry I don’t agree with relocation, Fraser Island has the most purebred dingoes in Australia. If you relocate them they will become a mixed bread. I have been going to this Island for the last 40 years and not once have I or my children be bothered by these animals. If the visitors read the information given to them when they purchase their camping permit they would then know the DINGO IS A WILD ANIMAL and will seek food anyway they can. Do you see people on foot carrying chicken legs in Africa where the LIONS are????
I personally think that Fraser Island should be closed to tourists. People just don’t take the danger seriously!!!!, The dingoes don’t have enough food on this island and the treatment of them is disgusting.
Why close the Island to visitors? have they closed AFRICA to visitors and wet there have been lots of incidents of the local people being injured by various means.
Because people are so used to seeing overweight dogs everywhere, naturally when they see the dingoes they believe they are starving when in fact they are a healthy normal weight. They don’t lay around sleeping all day like domestic dogs, they are constantly patrolling & hunting which keeps them lean. Also some may be young ones which are still learning to hunt. My own dog may look skinny to some people but because she has hip dysplasia I have to keep her weight down. She will also grab & gulp food like she hasn’t had anything to eat in a week, the dingoes are the same. If people stopped feeding them they’d learn that people didn’t = food & everyone would be better off including the dingoes. I also don’t believe they are eating all the native animals. Scientific studies have shown Fraser Is dingoes eat prey ranging from tiny insects to giant dead whales washed ashore & everything in between. The dingoes are fine but would be a lot better off without people.