Western Australia: Dingoes are in line to lose their protection as a natural species. The law change which could be finally determined by the Minister for Environment, Stephen Dawson, is controversial. The announcement of the lifting of dingo protection was made by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. ABC AU said the idea to lift what little protection there is, was based on a study "published in the scientific journal Zootaxa." According to the study, the scientists believe that the dingo dogs don't differ from wild dogs and the breed probably is very intermixed with ancient feral dogs.
Controversy over lifting protection on the dingoes
The announcement met with controversy as not all zoologists think the scientific findings are correct and there's concern over the potential loss of a predator that's much needed to balance the wild animal population. The first suggestion that the dingoes should not be classified as protected came via the Australian Museum who noted they were merely an ancient wild dog population from around 4000 years ago. That alone has raised the ire of people, as 4000 years is a very long time for the iconic dog to be around.
#Dingoes will no longer be native in WA under planned law reform. Unregulated killing to be allowed. @MarkMcGowanMP @EuanRitchie1 https://t.co/P3iqFAqzk2
— Matt Bamford (@BamfordMatt) August 28, 2018
Meanwhile, farmers and stockmen are reported to be very happy with the idea of killing them as they complain the Animals attack the calves and injure their cattle.
However, Euan Ritchie, a Deakin University associate professor feels more should be done to think about ways to maintain the population while tackling ways to control stock predation.
Negative reaction on Twitter over removing dingo protection
People on Twitter were shocked and angry at the announcement. User TimeToStopBeingNice, posted, "So another NATIVE animal, like the tassie tiger, gone to man's arrogance." Some of the tweets expressed anger that a four to five thousand year animal is no longer protected.
Their outrage came from the fact that animals like deer are protected. @jefmorello wrote, "Unregulated killing???? Deer aren't native, yet they are protected against unregulated killing."
Other people called for the Australian indigenous people to make a stand as the Aboriginal people have lived with the dingoes for thousands of years.
@Nomutedwords wrote, "Will end up the same as the Tasmania Tiger. Further will take out an indigenous predator putting a hole in the natural evolution, we all know how badly that can end / Time for indigenous groups to also take a stand on this issue. @Crow29darkness pointed out that "this is a horrible idea. The Silvereye & Pukeko (Australasian Swamphen) are considered native species in New Zealand despite being very recent arrivals. The Dingo plays a prominent role in the Dreamtime stories of Indigenous Australians."
