Evening star., 1938-10-16
Australia's Dingo Dog
Problem
By FREDERIC J. H4SKIN.

Flgal created OlIuCulL Sltu6LlOn IN tI1e
sheep and cattle country of Australia.
On the one hand the commonwealth and
the provincial governments seek by
means of bounties and other measures to
exterminate or restrict the dingo, while,
on the other, dingo hunters, or doggers
as they are called there, encourage breed
ing in order to have more dogs to Kill.
Moreover the Australian black fellows
have immemorially used the dingo as
hunting dog So there is constant pull
and tug one way and the other and IN,
dingo persists just as he has for thou
sands of years.
The Australian dingo has proved some-
thing of q mystery to biologists The
dog is stoutly built, somewhat short
legged animal averaging SO inches over
all including IL inches of tail II is
dun colored as rule, although some have
black spots which, it is claimed, have
arisen from interbreeding with imported
European dogs
The stance is graceful, not unlike that
of greyhound and the foxlike, triangular
ears and the pointed nose give an i'm
preston Of keenness. The animal is
fleet and mighty hunter. 1t likes man.
kind, but is quite lacking, it would sp-
pear in the undying faithfulness of most
dogs. 1t is not at all unusual for
dingo to shift its allegiance. For exam
pie, visitor may come to a camp TO
which dingo has been attached fer
months, even years. The dog will de-
eide 1t likes the visitor better than its
master and follow him off.
The dingo. as a rule, does not hunt in
packs but singly. The spinifex rat Is the
usual prey. However, since the introduc-
ton Of sheep and the establishment OF
the great sheep stations the dingoes ha>c
preyed numerically upon the creature
A sheep station in the United Stat,
would be called sheep ranch. Austrsll"
has its own nomenclature. Thus whey
Americans refer to flock Of sheep AuE
trallans call 1t a mob of sheep. A sing.
dingo has been known to pull down ltJ
sheep in single night. The dingo ia
tens its teeth in the jugulsr and the
ripping open the flank, tears out the kit-
ney fat. This is the only part OF tn
sheep 1t seems interested in; that i
when there are plenty of sheep availab-
One after another is treated in tn
manner.
In the cattle country dingoes do hu
in packs. They will cut out calf or
young heifer, driving 1t away from I
herd, and then pull it down. 1t vor'
be impossible to estimate the money i
which has been suffered by Australi
sheep and cattle growers over the ye7
but the total is unquestonably huge.
Like the coyote the dingo has its co,
ardly streak where man is concerne
Nevertheless there are cases on reco
in which lone man, far from camp
habitation, has been attacked by ding
in a pack. Some Of them are willy cree
lures and capable Of cleverness in evadir
traps and hunters. Right now there
said to be still at large an old wild dineU
which has been making costly deprede-
tlons for years. This creature is recog-
nized by its track Once, years ago ii
was caught in trap and partially
gnawed paw away to release itself
There is substantial price on the AMI
mails head, far above the government,
bounty.
There is the fixed government price on
the heads of all wild dingoes. 1t varif,
in the provinces Queensland PAYS the
equivalent of $10.50 for every wild dingo
killed: Western Australia pays S52S, and
the Northern Territory only S1.75. The
variation is due partly to the intensity
OF the nuisance and also TO the revenues
available. A tax is levied on the station
owners to meet the bounty costs The
professional slayer must present the ears
and a strip of hide along the backbone in
order to collect the bounty. Regular
dingo hunters are said to earn from $25
to $50 week although in some seasons
there have been much larger earnings A
rate as high as Sc, 900 a year has been
earned in dingo bounties.
This very fact, of course, has had the
effect Of working against determination
Unscrupulous adventurers who own no
property, no sheep or cattle. have con-
tlnued more or less surreptitiously 10
breed dingoes just to turn them loose and
later kill them to earn the bounty.
A great many people have tanned din
goes from cubhood and made pets OF
them, but. because of the doubtful fidelity
OF the creatures, this is not always salts
factory. The dingo is by nature a wild
dog and, even though be has b"c.l rsi ised
from puppy at sheep or Ce.t,e station,
the call Of the wild is likely to r-ach him
Off he will go and become a killer of
sheep
The black fellows deliberately keep
their captive dingoes in a state of SEMI
starvation as that state improves theft
keenneSs in hunting. The lean animals
when the leashes are slipped, dash with
great speed and eagerness after game
but when the spinifex rat or other small
creature is caught. the black fellow comes
up and beats off the dogs. cooking the
meat for himself. The dog may get the
head and few bones
The sheep and cattle station owners
have fenced enormous tracts against the
dingoes, but there must be passage
through and that means gates. One may
travel 100 miles in the Australian sheen,
country and have to stop to open a gate
every mile or at even shorter intervals
But gates sometimes get left open BY
carelessneSs or it sometimes has been
suspected, through malice of rivals, and
the dingoes get in. 1t is cardinal sin in
the Australian sheep country to leave 8
dingo fence gate open.
The black fellows of Australia while
they half starve their dingoes do not
often kill them for bounty money as do
the white hunters. 1t appears that they
have a superstition to the effect that
the owner of large collection OF din
goes has better chance of salvation and
will enjoy fuller protection when he
passes into the next world.
A new worry has come to the Aus
trallans in recent years. A number OF