Qld: Dingoes roam in superpack - expert

AAP General News (Australia)
08-30-2004
Qld: Dingoes roam in superpack - expert

By Alex Murdoch

BRISBANE, Aug 30 AAP - Dingoes have formed a superpack on the same south-east Queensland
island where a young boy was mauled to death three years ago, a dingo expert said today.

University of Queensland researcher Nick Baker said the dingoes of Fraser Island appeared
to have developed a tolerance for each other which was uncharacteristic of their breed.

He said dingoes traditionally lived and hunted in small territorial packs which would
defend their food and territory to the death against invasion, especially from other packs.

"But here the whole island is like one big pack, with the smaller groups working together,"

Mr Baker told AAP.

On April 30, 2001, nine-year-old Clinton Gage of Brisbane was mauled to death by dingoes
while his seven-year-old brother was injured as they returned to their family's Fraser
Island campsite.

At the time experts blamed the visitors to Fraser for the tragic attack, suggesting
that hand feeding of the wild dogs had led to a boldness in the dingo population.

Mr Baker said he believed the superpack mentality had evolved on the island because
of the small territory involved and the abundance of food.

He said with a plentiful supply of food from both the beach and forest areas, there
was no need for the dingoes to protect their territory against each other.

But Mr Baker said in contrast to what most people would expect, the dingo superpack
was actually less of a threat to the island's human population than dingoes had been three
years ago.

"We haven't had a major incident in the past three years, whereas before bites and
reports of aggressive behaviour were common," he said.

Mr Baker said the improvement in human and dingo interaction had been sparked by stringent
management since the boy's death, with the number of rangers patrolling the island increased
dramatically and four dedicated exclusively to dingo management.

He said rangers were now consistently on the move, talking to campers around Fraser,
teaching them the basics of dingo management and stressing the consequences of disobeying
the island's laws which include heavy fines for feeding the dingoes.

AAP am/sc/cat/jlw

KEYWORD: DINGOES

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