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  • 5 days ago
For a native animal, dingoes have a polarising affect. For many they're a pest, causing stock losses on properties across the state. But for Indigenous Queenslanders - the apex predator is culturally important and plays a significant role in the ecosystem. The Queensland government is considering changing the classification of dingoes under biosecurity laws, giving them the same scientific name as the domestic dog. But that's caused traditional owners to call for the government to recognise the cultural importance of the animal as they update the wild dog management strategy.

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00:00For thousands of years, dingoes have roamed the rainforest of Wagamay country in North
00:10Queensland. Now pushed to urban fringes, traditional owners are trying to capture footage of the
00:17animals to get a true picture of how many dingoes are still on country.
00:22We're also trying to establish, you know, the population as well, just to see if they
00:28are, you know, travelling between areas as well because there is a lot of farming and
00:34agriculture, a lot of land clearing. For many in these parts, including durable woman Sonia
00:42Takao, dingoes hold deep cultural significance. When I see a black and tan dingo or a gold dingo
00:49out on country, straight away my mind goes, that's family. Under the Nature Conservation Act,
00:57dingoes are protected in national parks. But outside these zones, they're deemed a pest,
01:06can be baited, trapped and shot. Sonia Takao wants the legislation overhauled to give dingoes
01:12greater protection. As an Aboriginal person, I find that legislation very offensive to me,
01:20because, you know, there was a law on these lands long before the white man came here.
01:29On Dunraven Station in the States West, the sighting of a dingo is met with fear. Their attacks on
01:37stock were at their worst ten years ago in the midst of a devastating drought.
01:43We roughly think that we lost up to three years of lands. It was very harsh and our sheep losses
01:50were huge too. Paul Donnelly has since constructed dog-proof fencing at a huge financial cost.
01:58We should be attacking this while we can, because if we lose this battle,
02:02it'll be gone and people will lose the small stock industry forever.
02:05I can definitely sympathise with graziers, but we need to start working on ways that we can start
02:11co-existing with nature. Shakira Todd is a wildlife educator based near Townsville.
02:17She flinches at the term wild dog. A lot of research in recent years has
02:24genetically distinguished dingoes as an isolated population away from domestic dogs. I'm using
02:31genetic technology which didn't exist 10, 15, 20 years ago. As Queensland updates its wild dog
02:38strategy, Sonia Takao says indigenous Queenslanders must have a seat at the table to ensure dingoes have
02:45a voice. As human beings we've demonised the dingo for 233 years in this country. It's quite
02:53a beautiful animal, it's an intelligent animal and it plays an important role for biodiversity.
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