Latest Fraser Island Dingo Attack

Worked with dogs for a living all my life, take a tip: if you are running and spot a dog - stop running and face it. Dogs hunt by running prey down, guess what you look like when you are running?

Is it the feeding or lack of prey causing this odd behaviour Allan? Might have to stop giving handouts to the maggies and currawongs if it's the former. They seem to be particularly friendly but might be lulling me into a false sense of security. Hitcock all over again.

They NPW should never had taken the brumbies off the island, it was their food source...put them back on.

Gday,

I wonder If you can sue the owners for lack of dog control?

There are only two alternatives to the control of the dingoes on Fraser and one is to supply them with food as there is now no natural, whether feral or otherwise available to them and we all now what the second alternative is..... It is only a matter of time before a person/child is taken.

Cheers

I also have been going there for a while and never had a lot of problems with dogs. From time to time I have seen them nip people (many years ago) but never attack. What's also interesting is that they have been culled quite ruthlessly I believe and their numbers are much smaller now (paper this morning quotes 50 to 200 for the Island) so it really doesn't make a lot of sense. There is a fair bit of food on the island but their scavenging around various camps and towns has been seriously curtailed.

I was there a month ago and it really was spot the dingo as they are few and far between. Even at camp where the fishing and cooking aromas should have brought them around it was several days before we had an encounter. It was late at night and someone got a fright seeing one near the camp (what a girl) and we moved it along.

Sounds a bit like crying wolf or is that dingo but their behaviour has changed over the last few years and it seems that they are getting desperate. So when we had heaps of dingos the problem was less evident the it is now and with government intervention after a series of attacks and at least one death we seem to have a more serious problem. One can only wonder about the management.

Kind regards

My curiousity was, as usual, aroused by various comments so I went looking and found THIS-Fraser Dingoes Myths and Realities (FAQs) which answers my questions.

A water pistol filled with a strong ammonia-based cleaning solution and squirted at aggressive dogs is a pretty good way of getting them to back off.
Hit in the mouth and eyes it stings and burns, and makes them think twice about continuing with an attack.

My dad grew up on Fraser during the 1940s. As much as I love and am fascinated by the place I have seen an enormous change in the dingoes between 1985 (my first visit) and 2000 (my last).
Of course we know there are so many more 4WDs on the road these days (and not all are owned by responsible people)
In my opinion there are now too many visitors to the island and with that, comes problems for the dingoes. You see idiots feeding them to lure them in for photos etc but when something goes wrong, the poor dingo cops it. Gotta have that damn Facebook photo, eh?!
I am very much saddened by the decline of the dingoes' ways. In 1985, they were skitty and kept their distance. 15 years later, we were being warned what to do if confronted.
You can educate people all you like about respecting the poor dingo, but I think the damage has been done- there will always be the idiots who disregard rules and subsequent tourists then run the risk of facing a dingo that's been taught the wrong thing.
And yes, the brumbies were part of the ecology in the 80s when all went a bit more smoothly...
I love Fraser because of my family connection but have vowed to love it from a distance now and be one less vehicle there.
I respect people who visit and I fully understand the lure...but it's not for me any more.