The dingo problem has been around for decades. Compounded by the removal of the brumbies and the closing of the tip sites on Fraser. The dingos then got hungrier and braver. The dingos have been responsible for the decimation of a lot of other wildlife on the island, especially the ground dwelling animals. Nobody seems to consider that issue.
Years ago rangers were told not to fine people for feeding the dingos as it was bad for tourism, just warn them. The culmination was the tragic loss of Clinton Gage. Rangers were then ordered to practically shoot dingos on sight, and to fine anyone who so much as wiped a greasy pan and left the piece of paper lying around, or left an empty egg shell in the camp site. Then the rangers were ordered to put up that stupid fence around Waddy Point barbecue area as a cheap political stunt. NOT around the camping area where most of the humans spent most of their time, but around a small barbecue area measuring a hundred metres or so, which got very little use.
For years numerous experienced people debated and discussed the issue, with the government doing nothing. The Fraser Island Advisory Committee made recommendations. Nothing was done. Businesses and tour operators all had ideas. Nothing. The most sensible idea was to place remote feeding stations several kilometres from residential and popular camping areas to attract the dingos away. At the same time dingoes could be medicated via their food for disease and population control. The radicals said this was interfering too much with nature.
So now, out of the blue, our great white knight Andrew McNamara, after no public consultation by himself whatsoever, comes charging in on his donkey and builds the Great Wall of Fraser. Except it really is not a wall to control dingos at all. It is a cheap, correction, expensive political stunt that ruins a massive amount of sensitive habitat, walls in the humans in a couple of relatively small places, REALLY cheeses everybody off, and it won't even work!
The Watcher
1 comment:
SILENT WOOFERS
It would be interesting to review any research done on the prey species populations for the Dingo on the Island . By far the favoured species is Wallabia bicolor ( swamp wallaby) , with a switch sometimes to Macropus rufogriseus (red neck wallaby) and Macropus dorsalis (black stripe wallaby) , with Rufus bettong and Rufus pademelon (thylogale thetis).
We would need to determine if these species are in fact at population crash levels , which could indicate that the Dingo is oportunistic feeding .
The massive increase in vehicle traffic and human impact may in fact be contributing to 'prey' loss . The citizens who live on the island must accept some responsibility for theer part in the disturbance of the natural balance and it is quite hypocritical for the finger to be pointed at QPWS , the agency charged with balancing freehold property rights with crown protected area tenure rights .
The people of this agency are merely following the orders which have been issued from the Minister , who is unfortunately selected to 'manage' the agency portfolio by cabinet colleauges , who are of course people with no understandng of Biodiversity management , and hence we end up with a Minister who also has no understanding of biodiversity management, but simply reacts to media and public emotive responses.
Until such times as we can have members of parliment who are qualified to make decisions on the portfolio from their demonstrated experience , it will always result in drama .
The same can be said of the councillors elected to the FCRC.
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