This is Alinta, her family is being targeted with 1080 poison dropped from helicopters in regional Victoria. Alinta, is a much loved and safe baby dingo, but not many other Dingoes living in the wild.
We must stop Daniel Andrews Labor Government from renewing the Commonwealth permission to aerial bait with poison 1080 across regional Victoria. It is not an authorised use, and the permission expires in December 2019.
There is no need to use this cruel poison at all it is killing Dingoes and native wildlife, is unnecessary. The only to benefit are the poison bait makers.
These are the facts. Over the period 2013-14 to 2017-18, the numbers of stock reported killed or maimed per one million sheep in Victoria were 117 in 2013-14, 76 in 2014-15, 84 in 2015-16, 68 in 2016-17, and 86 in 2017-18. Yet, the thrust of government policy has been to constantly escalate the extent and intensity of lethal control, out of all proportion to the actual scale of stock loss, to the detriment of the dingo as a threatened native taxon.
The dingo has been identified as a threatened species under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (Vic) 1988 and the poisoning has in fact led to and will continue to lead to the inhumane destruction by poison 1080 of the threatened species the Dingo and directly and indirectly the Spot tailed quoll, a threatened species under the EPBC Act.
It may also lead to increased hybridisation, which is something that Victoria should be seeking to minimise.
The delivery of 1080 poison by air is a highly threatening procedure as neither baits or poisoned carcass are picked up after being dropped, and it has been proven that the effects of 1080 will represent a hazard to (all) animals for up to eight months after baiting.
"One of the main discussion points at the recent Royal Zoological Society of NSW symposium ‘Dingo Dilemma: Cull, Contain or Conserve’ was that the continued use of the terminology ‘wild dog’ is not justified because wild canids in Australia are predominantly dingoes and dingo hybrids, and not, in fact, feral domestic dogs. In Victoria, Stephens et al. (2015) observed that only 5 out of 623 wild canids (0.008%) sampled were feral domestic dogs with no evidence of dingo ancestry. This same study determined that 17.2% of wild canids in Victoria were pure or likely-pure dingoes and 64.4% were hybrids with greater than 60% dingo ancestry. Additionally, comparative studies by Jones (1988, 1990 and 2009) observed that dingoes maintained a strong phenotypic identity in the Victorian highlands over time, and perceptively ‘wild dog’ like animals were more dingo than domestic dog.”
(Professor Mike Letnic Centre for Ecosystem Science School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences University of New South Wales co-signed by 25 other Scientists and experts, dated 8 October 2019)
In addition, the Victorian government’s rationale for 1080 poisoning – to protect farm stock, is unjustified and is simply not supported by the facts or our leading Scientists.
The claimed significance of farm stock losses from Dingoes called ‘wild dog’ predation, in Victoria have been consistently exaggerated by extreme elements within the farming lobby and by vested interests that have been historically associated with the manufacture of 1080 poison. In reality, farm stock losses from dingo predation remain extremely low. (see above)
[1Longevity of Meat Baits in Central Australia – Final Report to National Feral Animal Control Program 1999 which found that baits “are likely to provide a hazard…for up to 8 months”)