Most Australian farmers regard the poison 1080 as essential in controlling pests, but a report by an RSPCA scientific officer into the use of the chemical has found it is inhumane.
Dr Miranda Sherley a scientific officer for the RSPCA, has a different view of the chemical in a report she has written for the journal of a British-based organisation called Universities Federation for Animal Welfare.
"The major finding is that despite long-held opinion, 1080's not a humane poison," she said.
Dr Sherley says previous studies had looked at the late stages of poisoning, when it is hard to tell how humane the process is.
But she says focusing on the earlier stages presents a different and painful picture of what the animal is going through.
'Screaming with pain'
Miranda Sherley is concerned that 1080 not only poisons the animals targeted but also other creatures, including native wildlife.
Bill Little, a Queensland drover, told PM recently how some of his own working dogs had accidentally eaten the bait and been poisoned.
"I would imagine, in my working life, at least 30 dogs with 1080, sometimes three a time at one hit, you'll lose three dogs with one bait," he said.
"It's an horrific death.
"You get up in the middle of the night and ... your dog's screaming with pain and he's climbing up the wall of your van, you've got to get out in the middle of the night and shoot your best dog.
"The poison issue needs to be reviewed. I think it's high time they did some reform on it."
To see what effect 1080 has on a Dog as it dies from the poison, click the link below.
How can our politicians condemn whaling and yet condone the Arial baiting drops of 1080 in the Kosciusko National Park where the last bastion of approximately 100 Pure Alpine dingoes live in the world?
These 'Lion Kings ' hold our ecosystem together as our top land predator. It is hypocritical of our politicians to exterminate the dingo and then condemn the Japanese whaling - at least they eat the whale meat. We just kill dingoes and let them rot.
Maybe our government ministers need a shake up. This might be the Key through international pressure to create public understanding.
I have written a letter to 'The Japan Times', I hope Mr Joji Morishito gets to read the information as well as the many would be tourists who visit Australia to see our wildlife!
Nic Papalia
President of the WA Dingo Association
READERS IN COUNCIL
No call to cry about whales
Published in the Japan Times on
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
By NIC PAPALIA
Perth, Australia
Australian politicians and the public have slandered and denigrated the Japanese for their whaling activities, yet in our own country they condone the extermination of our top land predator, the dingo, which holds all things in balance. At least the Japanese eat the whales; we in Australia leave dead dingoes to rot!
Last week, permission was given for aerial bait drops, using "1080" (sodium-monofluoroacetate), in Kosciusko National Park, one of the last bastions for wild dingoes. The animals die in terrible agony, and 1080 is destroying the ecosystem. The dingo and "wild dog" are key ecosystem modulators in Australia. It is now the whelping season.
It is absurd that we have such hypocritical politicians who voice anger at Japan for whaling but who go silent when it comes to the destruction of our own "lion king."
Rarity of a top predator triggers continent-wide collapse of mammal prey: dingoes and marsupials in Australia
Article by Christopher N. Johnson, Joanne L. Isaac and
Diana O. Fisher
Top predators in terrestrial ecosystems may limit populations of smaller predators that could otherwise become over abundant and cause declines and extinctions of some prey. It is therefore possible that top predators indirectly protect many species of prey from excessive predation. This effect has been demonstrated in some small-scale studies, but it is not known how general or important it is in maintaining prey biodiversity.
During the last 150 years, Australia has suffered the world's highest rate of mammal decline and extinction, and most evidence points to introduced mid-sized predators (the red fox and the feral cat) as the cause. Here, we test the idea that the decline of Australia's largest native predator, the dingo, played a role in these extinctions. Dingoes were persecuted from the beginning of European settlement in Australia and have been eliminated or made rare over large parts of the continent. We show a strong positive relationship between the survival of marsupials and the geographical overlap with high-density dingo populations. Our results suggest that the rarity of dingoes was a critical factor which allowed smaller predators to overwhelm marsupial prey, triggering extinction over much of the continent. This is evidence of a crucial role of top predators in maintaining prey biodiversity at large scales in terrestrial ecosystems and suggests that many remaining Australian mammals would benefit from the positive management of dingoes.
For more, please download the full article as PDF (214kb).
DINGO
* By all definitions a native animal which is historically documented by all explorers from 1600's onwards.
It has adapted and evolved to be a unique Australian species over 5 - 10,000 years. Rock art and fossil remains evidence the antiquity of the species as a naturally evolved canine without any of the specific selected traits associated with interference by man. The dingo colonised the entire mainland of Australia, yet is now only to be found in remote and inaccessable fragmented habitats not seen as useful to humans.
* Now scientifically proven to be a keystone trophic modulator for bio-diversity in all its habitats. Where the dingo is in stable social habitation small native species survive in a healthy state including Bilbies, Quolls and rare wallabies and possums. Where the dingo has been "controlled" read: exterminated - these same small native creatures have fallen into local extinction due to fox and cat predation. After 100 years of the Dingo Barrier fence the once "fertile pasture" is now nothing but barren bedrock, while the "outside" continues to support healthy native vegetation and many rare species
* The dingo is our only natural selective suppressant of foxes, feral cats, rabbits, wild pigs and goats. Non-selective toxins can never hope to emulate natural modulation by predator species. All healthy ecosystems exhibit healthy prey species such as eagles, small raptors, goannas. Where they are absent - so is biodiversity. That is the key to the aboriginal regard for the dingo.
* While snakes and raptors enjoy recently bestowed protection, the dingo is the only native species to still be listed as a "pest animals" and "vermin". Listed as " protected" in National Parks, but since the handover of management to the States, has been subject to aerial baiting with 1080, and now seriously endangered - particularly the alpine varieties of the eastern seaboard. There is a recently introduced bounty on Victoria's vanishing dingo.
* Facts regarding the economics of predation DO NOT SUPPORT the claims made by "pasture protection bodies". When the truth is reviewed thoroughly the dingo has little or no economic impact on Australian sheep flocks.
* The dingo is entrenched in aboriginal folklore and a totem spirit in many parts of Australia. It is an icon of Australian heritage.
* The wild dingo, far from being an aggressive animal towards man is, on the contrary naturally shy and reserved. In captive conditions the extremely intellegent dingo is fully capable of being trained to be a companion to man. Dingoes will not attack humans unprovoked. Documented and authenticated serious dingo interactions are extremely rare - less than five in our history, yet each year dogs attack 10,000 to 15,000 humans.
* The dingo is the first CANID to have succeeded in communication across the species barrier, thus being able, under certain conditions, to be tamed, but not domesticated by humans, It is species which falls between wolf and domesticated dog.
DINGO VETERINARY CARE
When a dingo requires medical treatment it is comforting to know veterinary professionals who are familiar with caring for this unique species. The Western Australian Dingo Association is proud to have Leon Warne BSc(Biol), BScBiomedSc(Hons1), BSc(Vet). As one of our members. Leon himself is the guardian of a young Dingo called Gyp. Leon is a veterinary student at Murdoch University and as practice manager of his family¹s vet clinic, offers the services of Hilltop Veterinary Clinic as a ³dingo friendly practice,
Hilltop Veterinary Clinic
4 Canning Road,
Kalamunda
Western Australia, 6076
Phone +61 8 9257 1115
Mobile +61 439 927 635
Fax +61 8 9257 2507
Hilltopvetclinic@iinet.net.au
AIM
Protect and save dingoes in the wild in WA and throughout Australia. Also give protection to the dingoes and their keepers when the animals are kept in captivity as pets.
OUR PATRON PAT O'BRIEN
Article by Pat O'Brien, President of the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia
In 1989 almost all of Fraser Island was declared a National Park. The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service took over the management of Fraser Island from the Forestry. The first thing they did was kill or remove all the wild brumbies and cattle on the Island. The cruelty involved in that exercise is a story in itself. Then they closed all the tips, and stopped fishermen from leaving fish scraps on the beach for the dingoes. Dingo numbers at this time were thought to be around 300, although there has never been a scientific count. Within a year or so, the dingoes had eaten most of the natural wildlife and were starving. [more]
Dingoes do make wonderful pets with the required care that is needed and required for these pariah animals.
Dingoes by nature are gentle, timid and shy creatures. They are somewhat a paradox, they can be very friendly and aloof!
They love to play and socialise when raised in human cohabitation. It takes special responsibility and
tolerance to keep a dingo as a pet. With the correct attention required there are many wonderful testimonials that show having a dingo as a pet can be a rewarding challenge, for those people thinking of having a dingo please read thoroughly the pamphlet [Dingo Carer's Handbook] (PDF/1.69 MB) on attaining a dingo read the brochure thoroughly before making this big decision.
Dingoes generally don't bark, although in association with domestic dogs they can and do at times simulate a copy bark. The dingo is a southern wolf and howls, although generally they are a quiet animal in solitary cohabitation with humans as a pet.
Dingoes SMILE to show their joy. Their face screws up and their eyes tightly squint and their mouth folds round in a broad and definite smile!
Dingoes are amazing at jumping high fences so it is paramount to have a high fence system in place for the safety enclosure of your dingo. Exercise is a necessity with attention given every day!
Dingoes coats are very soft. A dingo generally only comes into season once a year instead of twice like the domestic dog.
Dingoes are neutral in body odour and don't have the irritant that makes some people allergic to dogs!
An Open Question for CALM. The Department of Conservation And Land Management.
An independent review in February 2003 of the Western Shield program recommended that your department, "take a leadership role in Australia by reviewing the role of Dingoes in the restoration of ecosystems and drawing together national and international expertise in multi-species predator systems." and that, "CALM scientists know, there is a considerable international literature on the management of predator systems and the problems of meso-predator release from removal of top predators"
Q: What, if any has your department's action's been on this recommendation and, in consideration of those recommendations, why are Dingoes still being targeted by Aerial 1080 baiting programs nearly five years later??
FROM THE REPORT:
9. . There is healthy debate within DCLM, and more broadly, on the role of dingoes in Australian ecosystems. From a broader perspective, it is probably true that dingoes deliver cat and fox control benefits, a form of ecosystem service, in areas where they retain their numbers and social organization. The Department could take a leadership role in Australia by reviewing the role of dingoes in the restoration of ecosystems and drawing together national and international expertise in multi-species predator systems. This would be the step towards determining a long-term management position for dingoes in different ecosystems. As CALM scientists know, there is a considerable international literature on the management of predator systems and the problems of meso-predator release from removal of top predators.
We await their response.......
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Lindy, off in dream land!
Some years ago Lindy dingo went on a trek in the car with Antony , Paul and myself to visit Dinky Dingo near Alice Springs in the NT where Dinky performed his singing sensation to Lindy. A love affair developed between the two aspiring sopranos and Lindy learnt some of Dinky's performance techniques – here is Lindy dingoes first recorded session to GREENSLEAVES – ENJOY!
Click here to Lindy dingo, the Singing Sensation Extraordinaire!
STATEMENT IN RELATION TO THE JAPANESE YOUTUBE FILM ON WHALING
The quotes by me on the Japanese YouTube video were misrepresented as I had no knowledge of, or input in, this video. The intent of my article issued to the Japan Times newspaper was to expose the hypocritical Australian Politicians, who condemn whaling yet are instrumental in the Genocide of the Dingo. I have NEVER condoned whaling or supported racist fear mongering. My stance is that we need all of Earth’s creatures to keep the ecosystem in balance, as nature intended. Thus I will fight to protect any endangered species.
NIC PAPALIA President WA Dingo Association
The Western Australian Dingo Association (inc) is looking for new members. So, whether you are a Dingo owner, Dingo Admirer or someone who simply sees an injustice being done to one of Australia's National icons, we invite you to join us and make yourself heard. Membership fees are $25.00 pa and provide the Association with valuable funding to support our projects. All our members give their time freely and at their own expence. Providing educational seminars, producing publicity materials and Website maintenance can be a costly excercise. Please help the Association by becoming a financial member. We are also looking for sponsorship and donations from all members of the community.
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