The repercussions from the Easter weekend dingo attack on a 14-month-old child are still being felt on Queensland’s Fraser Island. The incident, in which two dogs crept inside a camper trailer and one dragged the small boy into the bush, was the third dingo attack on the island this year.
The toddler was only saved when his father woke up to his screaming and managed to scare the dingoes away. The boy underwent two rounds of surgery for wounds to his head and neck, including a fractured skull. He is expected to make a full recovery.
In the immediate aftermath of the latest attack, ranger patrols on the island were stepped up and Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch announced new fenced camping sites, including in popular beachfront areas, to better protect visitors.
She is also to double the fines for intentionally feeding or disturbing dingoes. This would mean a minimum fine of $2088 and a maximum fine of $10,444 per offence.
Feeding, either inadvertently through not properly securing rubbish or food, or deliberately, is considered a main cause of dangerous interactions between dingoes and humans. At the same time, the Government has ordered an urgent review of the Fraser Island Dingo Conservation and Risk Management Strategy Implementation Plan, and it says potentially capping the number of visitors to the island is one of the ideas likely to be considered.
More than 400,000 people flock to the World Heritage listed island annually, injecting an estimated $200 million into the regional economy.
“The Government is committed to supporting a sustainable and healthy dingo population while minimising the risks to human safety and dingo welfare,” Ms Enoch said.
The dingo management plan review has been welcomed by Cheryl Bryant from the Save Fraser Island Dingoes organisation. She says a long-term solution needs to be found.
“Improving signage and education, increasing ranger presence, it’s all good but it is not enough,” she said. “Some visitors come over to the island and they try to interact with them and feed them … but the next person that comes and doesn’t do the same when the dingo might come looking for food, well then that person often pays the consequence.”
Unfortunately, the renewed safety warnings have done little to improve the behaviour of some visitors to the island. On social media platforms, notably Instagram, visitors are continuing to post images of themselves getting up close and personal with the island’s wild dogs.
Visitors to Fraser Island are advised to always walk in groups, camp in fenced areas, not feed the dingoes and never leave out rubbish, fish or fishing bait as it attracts the wild dogs.
Air drop food to feed the animals away from campers. The dingoes have not enough natural food sources and they are starving..can:t ANYONE see that for goodness sake ?
Recent university studies reported in the local Hervey Bay media stated that the Fraser Island dingoes were in better shape than anywhere else.
https://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/news/scientific-report-analyses-fraser-island-dingoes/3062683/
Rangers say they are simply cunning, and they boy taken was inside a zipped up annex. They have worked out how to unzip them to get to easy food. They have worked out how to undo esky/portable fridge clips too. A bit like humans – why go out & get your own food when someone else can do it for you?
Everyone needs a thorough briefing before setting foot on the island, and needs to be fined/removed immediately. Stupid tourists should be sent home, wherever they live.
More food more dings. They hang around the beaches as this is there food source. Humans love the beach .So there will be situation.
Absolute rubbish, the dingoes are definitely NOT starving and the comment about the dingos starving is one of total ignorance about the animal…the fact is they are brilliantly cunning and will do anything to get an easy feed, or some extraordinarily tasty (yet damaging to their health) visitor food out of eskies, food boxes and even camper trailers…take precautions as advised…and secure your young children and all will be fine….STOP feeding them, secure your food stuffs, NEVER leave children alone and stay away from dingoes…they have plenty of food to eat, they just have to work a little harder to get it…they are way to smart to starve.
“Unfortunately, the renewed safety warnings have done little to improve the behaviour of some visitors to the island. On social media platforms, notably Instagram, visitors are continuing to post images of themselves getting up close and personal with the island’s wild dogs.”
You hit the nail right on the head there…Today people do not read signs or want to read signs. ( Dont feed the Dingoes) ” oh look at the nice dog, wheres that left over piece of meat” Dingoes, like snakes, were here a lot longer than Europeans .. we have to learn to live with them, be aware of them (they are wild animals) and do not go near them ….
They need to find some way to feed the dingos . I agree they are starving and protect them from humans .
Protect our wildlife cos they were here first and cull the humans…
Restrict Fraser Island tourism to day time and groups only and tour groups must be led by an accredited leader. After a while the dingoes will return to their natural behavioral patterns that won’t include stealing little kids, begging for food or getting aggressive with humans who don’t feed them.
While there are always two sides to any discussion, coming from a sheep farming community, dingos have always been a source of heated debate within our own family. On one side, some believe dingos have a right to live in their natural habitat, while on the other side, we all agree their numbers need to be controlled. Our dingo situation always comes to the forefront of our “round table discussions”, especially during the lambing season.
I realise the Fraser Island situation is rather different, but as it is an Island after all, food naturally becomes limited. With pups to feed and a limited food supply, the continued existence of the dingo on Fraser Island is a recipe for disaster. Maybe the answer would be to relocate the dingos to a more sustainable natural environment with a more sustainable food supply.
I am going to stick my neck out here and say what I believe. ‘There seems to be a hidden agenda here. One which has nothing to do with the conservation of the dingo. Moreover it’s about the tourism dollar their presence represents.’ Fraser Island has become world famous for its dingo population and it only seems counterproductive for tourists to be restricted at this location. Providing more signs like ‘DO NOT FEED THE DINGOS for overseas tourists to read is useless, unless they are able to read English. Anyone who has watched BONDI RESCUE can attest to this. Overseas tourists have been known to leave their bags right beneath the ‘Dangerous Current’ signs and go swimming right in front of the notices.
Good luck with the dingo debate. I hope the Conservationists and Governments are able to come up with a realistic resolve to this very dangerous situation, both for human and animal presence alike…………..
It is good that they are stopping people from feeding the dingo. Unfortunately this is what is causing the attacks because the dingos have become habituated to receiving food from people. It happens with any wild animal that becomes to rely on humans for food. It is a good idea to build fenced camping grounds as it may take some time for the dingo to go back to sourcing their food the way they should. Do not start airdropping food for dingo’s, imo that would lead to catastrophe for both dingo and tourist.
Release a truck load or two of kangaroos on Fraser Island to feed the sacred dingoes. This would be a win – win for people and the dingoes.
How was the dingo able to gain access to camping trailer? The parents are responsible to secure the camping trailer at night. Especially when camping on fraser island as we all know there are dingos there and have been for a very long time. Is about time people take responsibility for there own actions and stop blaming the wildlife.
I will one day, hopefully travel to Canada to see the Brown Bears, and maybe, if I’m lucky I might one day get to see lions in Africa, but in both instances I will ensure I stay safe, I have been to Fraser Island several times, with young children and, I will continue to go there…the dingos dont compare to Brown Bears or Lions in terms of their potential to kill, but if you take appropriate precautions, you and your children can stay safe, there are some enclosed camping areas, but rest assured, dingos can open eskys’ can push zippers on tents and tent trailers until the zipper opens, and they can easily drag a small child and they can and have killed…so stay safe, be dingo wise, and for goodness sake, don’t feed them and leave them alone…they are smart, they are not starving (they may look like they are starving but they certainly aren’t), and they are very cunning.