Australia's Shame!

AUSTRALIA'S SHAME

'A campaign to stop an aerial baiting programme with the super toxin 1080 has been lost today. As from this today the Hunter Valley Region will be poisoned. Targeted areas will be:

Gloucester
Howse Valley
Singleton
Scone
Middlebrook

This has been sanctioned by the Ppboard. They justify the drops as controlling 'wild dogs' but they bracket dingoes and dogs together – incidentally it is rare now that they say dingo as it seems that putting them under the same banner as dogs justifies their practices. The dingo is actually a native wolf Canis Lupus Dingo. This is a sub-species of wolf NOT dog and is closely related to the pale-footed wolves in asia. By calling this species a dog it offers it less protection and so makes it easier to wipe them out.

It is criminal that the majority of our nation are kept unaware of this situation and/or believe the propaganda that is issued by both the 1080 industry and the CAE (Conservation and Environment).'



This was posted back in May on my Myspace page. The poisoning went ahead unhindered.

How is it that nobody is questioning the use of this poison? Even our mainstream TV and reporters don't tackle the subject but stay very quiet. It should be remembered that this poison has been banned in almost every country for a reason!! There is NO antidote to this poison. A small teaspoon will kill 30 fully grown men, so a child picking up the pretty coloured baits stands no chance. When it was legal to use the baits in USA, it was law that any carcasses of poisoned animals were incinerated due to the known secondary poisoning to other animals from theses carcass. Even kangaroos and other natives are affected and have been witnessed dying a horrifically painful death by ingesting the poison after grazing round dead carcasses where the poisoned animal had vomited. Aerial baiting means lots of these carcasses are left rotting on the ground, posing greater danger to ALL wildlife including our wedgetail eagles and other birds who will feed off the carcasses. One story the company spins is that this is safe to our native wildlife... well if this is so, why then is it used to reduce wallaby and possum numbers in Tasmania and New Zealand?

The next question is WHY is it that the dingo is the only wildlife here in Australia that is given NO protection? Why are they not on the endangered list?

Wake up Australia!.. before it is too late and all we have left is photographs. Peter Garrett needs to be told our feelings on this and questioned on why he appears to have become a traitor to the environmental cause.



LETTER TO MYSELF FROM NIC PAPALIA (WA DINGO ASSOCIATION)
Alison – West Australia uses more 1080 than all the states put together. The powers that be drop 1080 out of planes and have just increased the toxin drops from 4 baits per km to 40 They drop 1080 in pastoral land, non pastoral, aboriginal, and non habited land. It is atrocious and no one has the balls to stand firm on this issue. It is rubbish about 1080 being a natural pea plant that is issued – they never say there is nothing natural about this laboratory made product where toxin is magnified and taste and smell is removed. Most people are gullible and believe anything they are told because sometimes it is easier then to question.
Today has been full on and I am going to down a few ales and hit the sack. Lindy, my dingo, is next to me in the office and the lovely thing although so sad is that she trusts humans so much whilst we are the mongrels that are exterminating her species.
I guess you can understand my frustration with the politicians. Farmers that are on our books with dingoes and a brain that functions use marema dogs with great success and experience no sheep losses. This is in practice in Queensland and works successfully.
There should be NO sheep inside sanctuary locations and reserves. These locations are supposed to be owned by us the Australian public.
1080 is such a massive industry and along with the pastoralist lobby it is a powerful component that promotes the ficticious statistics about sheep loss to dingoes and also the bulldust about how 1080 is a great product and natural!! Check out how that poor dog dies again and tell me that this poison is humane. It is NOT humane. It must be banned!
Thanks mate
Nic

WARNING

Distressing scenes in this video... BUT PLEASE... try and watch as it is VERY important to understand why we should be banning this poison and not quickly enough!!.

THE TRUTH ABOUT 1080 POISONING


PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO WRITE TO THE MINISTERS BELOW, ESPECIALLY PETER GARRETT AND LET THEM KNOW OF YOUR THOUGHTS!!

Mr Peter Garrett - Federal Minister of Environment

Address: PO Box 249, Maroubra NSW 2035

Phone: (02) 6277 7640

Fax: (02) 6273 6101

Email: Peter.Garrett.MP@aph.gov.au

Mr Gavin Jennings - Victorian Minister of Environment

Address: Level 22, 50 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3002

Phone: (03) 9096 8830

Fax: (03) 9096 8866

Email: gavin.jennings@parliament.vic.gov.au


Mr David Templeman - WA Minister of Environment

Address: 29th Floor, Allendale Square, 77 St Georges

Terrace, Perth WA 6000

Phone: (08) 9220 5050

Fax: (08) 9221 4665

Email: david-templeman@dpc.wa.gov.au


Mr Philip Koperberg - NSW Minister of Environment

Address: PO Box A290, Sydney South NSW 1232

Phone: 9995 6750

Fax: 9995 6654
Email: office@koperberg.minister.nsw.gov.au

5 Dingo Myths!

Our dingo is the only remaining large predator in Australia capable of keeping our wildlife healthy by keeping prey and pest species in check. Unfortunately, like our Tasmanian tiger in our shameful past, he is being vilified and killed off by powerful rural and hunting lobbies that clasp to an abundance of ignorance, cruelty and greed. Paying the ultimate price of insufficient action by the government to protect our wildlife, the Tasmanian tiger is now forever gone.

Our dingo is currently the only native animal to be classified as 'vermin', and is being regularly baited with the aerially dropped super-toxin 1080. In Victoria. There is even a $50 bounty in place on their scalps.

If we do not pressure our government to take immediate action to protect our dingo, he will join the Tasmanian tiger as an extinct animal our future generations will only be able to marvel at in old photographs.

As part of their campaign to exterminate our dingo, rural and hunting lobbies spread myths to mislead the public about the real nature of the animals. This makes efforts to drive dingoes to extinction easier by eliminating resistance. The following are some of the most common myths perpetuated, along with descriptions of what represent reality:

Myth 1

'Dingoes decimate native wildlife and ruin ecosystems.'

Reality: Scientific studies of ecosystem conditions on either side of the dingo fence contradict this claim. On the side where dingoes are absent, kangaroos, wallabies, foxes and cats are overpopulating and destroying vegetation and endangered small marsupials. On the 'useless' side where dingoes are present, kangaroo and wallaby populations remain healthy and balanced, allowing vegetation to regenerate; Foxes and cats are also suppressed as a result of predation by dingoes, allowing small marsupials to thrive.

Our dingo is beyond doubt Australia's keystone predator: The species which preys on the weak and sick of the most abundant prey species, keeping herbivore species from overpopulating and out competing one another. Dingoes have been doing this job successfully for thousands of years. With this in mind, it is absurd to suggest that they would suddenly pose a threat to wildlife.

Myth 2

'Dingoes are utterly devastating our sheep industry.'

Reality: The reported losses of sheep to wild dogs in a given year in Victoria and New South Wales are at only around 3,600 and 1,200. Given that Victoria and New South Wales house upwards of 20,000,000 and 35,200,000 sheep, these losses could barely even be represented by a crumb on a pie chart or a percentage of just 0.02%. Vastly more sheep are lost in just a month during live export trips. Livestock losses to wild dogs cost nowhere near as much as the continual baiting of our dingoes with the super-toxin 1080, and show that there really is no 'wild dog problem' in Australia that can't be solved by compensating farmers for losses and/or making them practice more sensible husbandry using proven protective measures such as maremma guardian dogs and exclusion fencing.

Myth 3

'Dingoes are not native, and have been proven to be just introduced feral domestic dogs from Asia. Therefore they are pests that need to be exterminated.'

Reality: Various studies on geological records and samples of dingo mitochondrial DNA have shown that our dingo has been present on the Australian continent for at least 3,500 years, probably up to about 12,000 years. This is a very long time in the context of evolution and has been sufficient for the dingo to evolve and adapt to the Australian environment. By any official definition, the dingo is 'native'.

How the ancestor of dingoes, shown to be the pale-footed Indian wolf by skull morphology studies, arrived in Australia is unknown, can only be speculated about and does not change the fact that dingoes are essential components of Australian ecosystems that must be protected if we wish to preserve our wildlife.

Because dingoes still retain most characteristics present in Indian wolves, it is also highly unlikely that they were subjected to any significant form of domestication that would warrant labeling them as 'feral dogs'. Dingoes truly are Australia's own form of wolf.

Myth 4

'Dingoes are vicious killers that attack humans unprovoked.'

Reality: You can count the number of confirmed fatal attacks of dingoes on humans in our entire recorded history on just half a hand. Compare this to about 15,000 domestic dog attacks per annum.
Dingoes, like wolves in other parts of the world, have an inherent fear and distrust of humans. They generally avoid confrontations with people and flee at the slightest hint of trouble. This is considered by some scientists to be the result of wide-scale persecution of wolves by humans that began with the dawn of agriculture.

The only incidents of 'attacks' on humans by dingoes are recorded in areas where they are habituated to humans by irresponsible people, such as on Fraser Island. In those incidents the dingoes have lost much of their fear of humans as a result of feeding, and behaved more boldly when feeling threatened. There are also incidents of habituated juvenile dingoes attempting to play with people, which are misinterpreted as attacks.

Myth 5

'Pure dingoes are largely extinct, so there is nothing left worth preserving.

Reality: Studies of wild dogs caught in Victoria have supported the notion that the act of mating between wild dingoes and domestic dogs, and consequent successful rearing of the offspring, is actually a very rare occurrence due to the harshness of life in the wild and radical behavioral and biological differences. Natural selection ensures only canines with minimal domestic dog characteristics survive.

Because of this, most so-called hybrids caught only contain an insignificant amount of domestic dog genes and perform the same crucial ecological role that pure dingoes do. Hybridization with domestic dogs is a process that has occurred for wild canine species throughout the world for thousands of years without presenting itself as a serious threat. Hybridization is frequently used to distract the public from the real threat to dingoes (man) and to attempt to justify extermination campaigns.

Please have the courage to defend Australia's endangered native wolf before it is too late!

Voice your opinion in the media and contact the federal and state ministers for the environment, demanding

that our endangered dingo be removed from the vermin list and listed s a protected native species instead.

Mr Peter Garrett - Federal Minister of Environment

Address: PO Box 249, Maroubra NSW 2035

Phone: (02) 6277 7640

Fax: (02) 6273 6101

Email: Peter.Garrett.MP@aph.gov.au

Mr Gavin Jennings - Victorian Minister of Environment

Address: Level 22, 50 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3002

Phone: (03) 9096 8830

Fax: (03) 9096 8866

Email: gavin.jennings@parliament.vic.gov.au


Mr David Templeman - WA Minister of Environment

Address: 29th Floor, Allendale Square, 77 St Georges

Terrace, Perth WA 6000

Phone: (08) 9220 5050

Fax: (08) 9221 4665

Email: david-templeman@dpc.wa.gov.au


Mr Philip Koperberg - NSW Minister of Environment

Address: PO Box A290, Sydney South NSW 1232

Phone: 9995 6750

Fax: 9995 6654

Email: office@koperberg.minister.nsw.gov.au


Donations to the Australian Dingo Foundation are highly appreciated.

Please visit our website: http://www.dingfoundation.org.au

Website: http://www.dingofoundation.org.au Download and print more up-to-date copies of this leaflet: http://www.dingofoundation.org.au/leaflet

© 2007 Dimitrije Nikic. Permission is granted to copy and distribute the above text only in the unmodified form of the leaflet found at the URL http://www.dingofoundation.org.au/leaflet, or in formatted HTML form under the condition that the text is not altered and this notice is included.

PLIGHT OF THE DINGO - PLEASE HELP THIS WOLF

Photo courtesy Lyn Watson

"The Dingo in trouble?"... I hear people ask "but isn't that a protected native species?"

People are always surprised when they find out that our dingo here in Australia is actually an endangered species. I know I was! Yes that beautiful red wolf that is displayed on our post cards and tourist information, is actually heading down the slippery path to extinction, and this is happening right under our radar.

But how can this happen? How did your Aussie Icon get to this point?

Sadly it is the governments narrow minded and ill-informed policies but, more importantly, the powerful graziers lobby behind them that have brought this stunning animal to where it is now. It is for this reason that our government has listed the dingo as 'vermin' and has made it the only Australian native species that is NOT protected under laws. In fact they have gone the other way and put a $50 bounty on their heads to ensure quicker removal. And to make sure there is no public outcry or support, they spin myths and disinformation to support this criminal act. "A dingo ate my baby" is the cry I hear time and time again. In recorded history there as been roughly 12 dingo attacks... stack this against the 16,000 dog attacks yearly then it pulls it into perspective...besides the dingo was never truly proven guilty!! Like any wolf, these are shy animals that would rather avoid humans where possible.



Dingo Tree.. Hunted dingoes are hung from fences and trees in some antiquated belief that it keeps away other dingoes. Notice strips of skin off back due to $50 bounty.

Day in day out these animals suffer long agonizing deaths through trapping, 1080 poisoning and professional Doggers who revel in their killing whilst totally unconcerned that they are helping a species disappear forever.



And 1080 poisoning should be looked at too. This is a Super-toxin that is one of the most poisonous substances known to man. There is NO second chance with this poison as it has NO antidote at all. And yet the government departments fly across our public National Parks and aerial bait indiscriminately. Farmers in rural areas lay it out, often without abiding by the rules, leaving it to be picked up by either pets or other animals especially after baits have been moved around. These animals die in excrutiating agony and it takes 2-24hrs of hell to finally kill them. This poison is very inhumane and even the RSPCA has condemned it. The rest of the world banned it years ago, and yet Australia and New Zealand throw it out there by the tonnes each and every year.




BUT WHAT CAN I DO?

Please please take the time to sign the petition. Show our government that this can't be hidden any longer or tolerated. Each day that goes by means more dingoes suffer and are lost. Lets not leave our children nothing but a photo or a stuffed exhibit in a museum!!

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND VIDEOS PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO VISIT:

PLIGHT OF THE DINGO

The Link for the Petition is: