Fraser Island is a beautiful place - miles and miles of beaches to drive along and wonderful fresh water to swim in. But my visit was spoiled when I came face to face with the starving dingoes who live there. I was shocked to see the state of the animals. You'll see happy families barbecuing on the beach and not far away, these pathetic animals with their ribs sticking out, will be salivating and watching. But you can't ease their suffering by throwing them some food, it's not allowed.
Photographer Jennifer Parkhurst was fined $40,000 yesterday for feeding them. Wildlife authorities say that six dingoes from a pack of seven which attacked people on the island, had to be destroyed because she regularly fed and photographed them from the time they were pups.
The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services said "What has been most distressing is these same dingoes were later responsible for a number of serious attacks on children. From a pack of seven Ms Parkhurst fed, six dingoes had to be humanely destroyed." They have warned that feeding the dingoes changes their behaviour and can have serious consequences. "If a pups learns to associate humans with food, they don't want to hunt. Instead they grow up scavenging from these areas and are no longer wary of people and when this happens, the results can be very dangerous" General Manager Terry Harper said.
I believe there are far too many dingoes on the island because it's obvious their natural food source is not great enough to sustain them in good health. How long will these poor animals have to suffer before these people who are supposed care, do something about it?
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