My dingo management submission.
Sue Brooks June 5th, 2009
I submitted a bit of a story but here are my main points in summary.
We must stop killing dingoes.
We need a truly independent review of the current Dingo Management Plan.
We need a change of culture by staff on Fraser Island.
We need to change the Management structure and refresh the manner in which DERM staff are employed to work on Fraser Island.
We need more scientific research that properly assesses how many dingo’s are on Fraser Island.
We need more scientific research to demonstrate the link between human feeding and dangerous dingo behaviour.
We need to accept that no number of fines will ever totally prevent humans from purposely or accidentally feeding dingoes. (Cannot ever be policed)
We need to take away the dingo fences at Happy Valley and Eurong. People do not want to live in, or holiday in a prison!
We need to let the dingoes be and to train the humans. Be wary be careful and do not let children alone even for a minute. If people are concerned about dingoes then they should not visit the island on their own but be part of accompanied guided tours.
We should not artificially feed the dingoes as I believe this will cause more problems than it will solve.
Just to emphasise that these are my personal views and I am sure that not everyone will agree with me.
- Fraser Island , Uncategorized
- Comments(22)
Sue, It can only be hoped that recent changes to the former EPA / Parks and Wildlife service will mean that we have some fresh eyes looking over the management of the entire island.
I firmly believe an independent study of the island’s ecosystems needs to be undertaken urgently and possible alternatives to current management methods investigated, a preferred model designed, and implemented following thorough community engagement.
Perhaps council could write to the State Government and ask if this is possible? Fraser Island is an incredibly valuable asset to this region. If we fail to look after it properly over the next 5 to 10 years it is my humble opinion we stand to lose it forever.
My family and I have been traveling to K’gari for the past 7 years now, bush camping with 4 children and not once have we felt threatened by a dingo. Through these camping expereinces our children have learn about respecting wildlife and understanding nature in its pure form. On many occasion we have wittnessed other campers feeding dingos for a snap shot or come across bags of rubbish in the dunes left for scavenging dingos. During some of these camping trips we have had a good laugh at the dingo pamphlets and signage put out by national parks, it seems that dingoes are these scary creatures about to jump out and attack you, the information has been put out to make people fear, now we all know how dogs react if they smell fear. On our most recent trip in January, 3 of our adolecent children were playing on the dunes and 5 dingoes came up and surrounded them. The 2 girls who had been dancing swaying arms etc were the focus, they screemed and we just said to them stand still its okay they are just curious, don’t be afraid. Then we realised that the dingoes were also just wanting to play and it happened to be a family of 2 adults and 3 adolecent pups. The parents were showing us their children then they went down to the beach and splashed and played – I was amazed at how healthy and natural they seemed. We took many photos, we didn’t feel threatened and we didn’t have to encourage them with food because we were just behaving naturaly. As a concerned family of the Fraser Coast we feel very strongly about preserving what little native species we have left intact. I have travelled all over the world and never seen or experienced such a beautiful place as Fraser Island, but lets not love it to death we need to preserve such unique beauty for the future and I would love for my grandchildren to see and experience the K’gari that my children have.
What is the opinion of the true K’gari inhabitants about the plite of the dingo, are dingoes not a sacred creature to our local Butchulla clan? Who is our indigenous voice regarding this issue?
What a beautiful story. If you could forward some pics of the playful dingo’s without compromising your privacy I would be pleased to post them here. I think pictures send such a powerful message and are irrefutable evidence that we should make more use of them. I will place a link here today that shows pictures of the dingo’s that have been recently killed. Thank you for taking the time to write Jane, Sue
I urge everyone to visit this link. I ask how this type of behaviour where the dingo’s and humans are interacting peacefully could change so rapidly into ‘destructive aggressive’ behaviour. It is with deep sadness that I scrolled through this story.
http://www.ecovoice.com.au/enews/enews-63/eco-news-20.php
I think the whole Dingo fence is stupid.
Fraser island is a natural place to go, it’s not a theme park.
Tourism people are trying to turn it into a theme park where it’s all smiles and fun.
There aren’t nets in the Amazon that filter out the snakes and dangerous animals there..
Hi Sue
i am the author of the EcoVoice story you quoted above (thanks for the plug). i have spent the morning at the QPWS head office Rainbow being severely reprimanded for speaking out about management of the dingoes on the island. basically from now on if i am ever seen with a dingo i will be infringed and they stated that prosecution will follow infringement. they will have me under constant monitoring and surveillance. this is what happens when one speaks out against QPWS.
Jennifer
Jennifer in what way will you be infringed? I have also heard that researchers are afraid to publicly speak out as if they do their permits to work on the island will be withdrawn. There are so many rumours circulating it is difficult to know exactly what is happening.
Well said Sue. Now I hope that your submission and the many others sent in will be read.
I hope DERM and EPA take serious note from the Public complaints about their treatment of the Fraser Island Dingo.
There will be a Media Conference/Meeting at Rainbow Beach on Monday Jun 22 at 1pm.
I am not sure of the venue yet.
Hooroo
Dingosimon
Hi Sue
Firstly a comment about Jane Needham’s story. it shows that when dingo behaviour is understood properly and people react appropriately there are no bad repercussions. had this been another group of people perhaps they would have reacted differently (because of the aggressive signage) and thought they were under attack. i would love Jane to write to me and send some photos of the dingo play she witnessed.
The campaign against me by QPWS will consist of on-the-spot fines of $300 every time i am seen with or near a dingo. follow-up on that is prosecution and fines of up to $8000.
QPWS is spending massive amounts of $ time and other resources on monitoring my every move. most probably they have already found this blog.
i can confirm that your comment above about researchers is true. in fact somewhere in the management strategy it states that all researchers must be on friendly terms with QPWS staff. i dont have time to find the reference for that at present but can hunt it down late next week for you.
keep up the good work and please stay in touch.
Hi all,
Does anyone know the status of the review by Laurie Corbett?
Gaylene
Not released yet to my knowledge.
This is what happened to Jennifer Parkhurst because she spoke out against the DERM Park Rangers on Fraser Island.
And we are supposed to be living in a democratic country.
MP Kate Jones has a lot to answer for.
I for one hope that Jennifer becomes vindicated very quickly and the DERM Rangers are exposed for what they really are.
I copied this from The Gympie Times, written by Arthur Gorrie. 26 / Aug / 09
THE State Government yesterday hit back at criticism of its Fraser Island dingo management policies, with an early morning raid on the home of Rainbow Beach wildlife writer and photographer Jennifer Parkhurst.
The 7am raid was followed by a six-hour intensive search of Ms Parkhurst’s two-bedroom home and confiscation of computers, drives, cameras and records of her forthcoming book on the plight of what is widely seen as among the last and endangered pure strains of the Australian dingo species.
Minister Kate Jones yesterday referred media inquiries to her department, which issued a statement confirming the raid had occurred.
The raid yesterday sparked threats of protests by dingo advocates, allegations of “storm trooper” conduct and Opposition calls for a full public inquiry into allegedly “disastrous” island management policies.
An outraged Shadow Sustainability Minister, Glen Elmes, said the government’s actions were more suited to Nazi Germany than 21st Century Queensland.
“I know Ms Parkhurst and I know her to be a person who cares very deeply about the health of Fraser Island and particularly the wellbeing of its dingoes,” he said.
POLICE and officers of the Department of Environment and Resource Management raided Ms Parkhurst’s home under a warrant indicating she is suspected of photographing and otherwise interacting with dingoes without departmental permission on an unspecified date between July 5, 2007 and June 29, 2009.
A little known provision of the RAM Act makes it illegal for anyone, including news media, to take pictures for gain without government permission and specifically prohibits any recording of the activities of Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service officers.
Critics say this allows rangers to act without accountability and, some allege, with great cruelty towards dingoes portrayed as “dangerous.”
A shaken Ms Parkhurst said yesterday the government agents had searched her home for six hours.
She said this had not happened even to people proven to have fed dingoes and that, once, dingoes interacted freely with people and were not dangerous.
“They were fed, they had their pups under people’s houses and they did not attack people,” she said.
Gympie MP David Gibson yesterday accused the government of attacking fundamental civil liberties.
“Queensland has taken a turn for the worse under Anna Bligh.
“You don’t send storm troopers to raid people’s homes because you don’t like the research they are doing,” he said.
“They may not like her work and her views, but last time I checked this was still a democracy and people had the right to alternate views.”
“She is on record for photographing dingoes over a long period and now they are concerned about it?
“This has less to do with dingoes and more to do with a government seriously embarrassed about its failure to properly protect the dingoes on Fraser Island.
“Dingoes were a big part of the rationale for the island obtaining World Heritage listing,” he said.
Mr Elmes said he was outraged and would pursue the issue in Parliament.
“Given that she is a photographer, it is not surprising that she takes photographs.
“An Australian taking pictures in Australia is something I would have thought should be allowed in Australia, as should the open expression of opinions about government policy.
“But in return for that she got a visit from the Gestapo,” he said.
So we revisit the Ayres Rock Uluru debacle about someone publishing a book with photos of a teddy bear sitting on the rock! I cannot believe in this day and age that we have to apply for a permit to take photographs in wilderness areas if we want to ’sell’ these photos. I do support the need to regulate commercial activities in such places but I don’t believe individual photographers should be included in this category. Yes a film crew shooting a movie should need to be authorised but an individual photographer, no.
Our natural places and spaces, where freely accessible, should be places where a photographer is able to ramble at will, abiding by the regular permits applicable to you or me or any other traveller, to record the beauty of our natural environment. Why should a photographer be able to take photographs of our towns and cities without a permit but not of Fraser Island? Should we make it an offence to take a photo of a Hervey Bay beach and sell it?
This is a ridiculous situation. News crews are allowed to film but news broadcasts contain adverts so I would classify them as a profit making ‘commercial activity’ also, but they are exempt it seems.
Do our politicians realise that this situation exists? If so I hope they move to change it asap.
The specifics of this particular matter are not the real worry.
What is, is the way this state and country is heading.
Imprisonment without trial, laws to ban groups and organisations.
Acts of parliament to circumvent our Constitution.
Proposed filters on internet information.
Laws to slow the withdrawall of your own money from banks etc.
The list goes on and on, sadly, for the most part, people either
don’t know or don’t care?
Once upon a time we were innocent until proven guilty, but that
was once upon a time.
Sadman
Are we so far from ourselves and our the way we feel inside the way we felt as kids when we saw a wild animal, that we cannot show compassion to the other beings on our planet.
Beings that have befriended us and accompanied us on our journey, and the very thing we look forward to most when we are in nature…..Something that is still wild and free, untamed and beautiful just being what it is.
Something so honest that it touches us in a way no documentary can. Have we forgotten the joy in connecting to something that is so fundamentally good for us.
Do we want leaders that put so much pressure on the officials and managers of our parks that though they work in them, they are completely removed from them.
Nature is not a zoo, thats why we go there. Its time that we accept it doesn’t need to be managed.
We need to be relearn how to be ourselves and walk in it gently and unafraid of the very thing that supports and sustains us.
Jen Parkhurst is a person who has encompassed the plight of the Dingoes for over eight years on Fraser Island.
The wonderful photography, paintings and records of this love and passion for our vulnerable and ‘Red-Listed’ Dingo species – has been captured on film and recorded by someone dearly close to these animals.
The emaciated Dingoes that have ear tags severely handicaps the outcome of the animal. Jen’s concern for this barbaric practise ignited the fury in the DERM authorities who appear to do what ever they wish when it comes to Dingo. The ear tagged Dingoes deplete in health and this is proved with the Dingoes that remove the giant awkward pieces of plastic lodged in one ear so they cant hold their ears up, after removal health improves and the Dingoes appear happy and balanced once again!
Jen’s enthusiastic and passionate devotion to saving the Dingo has been victimised by the DERM authorities who have NO clue on animal management if the legacy of extermination is anything to go on. Minister Kate Jones …. in her wisdom released a statement to say that the Dingoes on Fraser Island are the best cared for animals in a sanctuary in the world – straight after the 94th Dingoe was killed by the very rangers that are supposed to be guardians of these ’supposed protected animals inside a World heritage listed sanctuary’. There are only 140 Dingoes left on the Island in total and that is from DERMS own registrar.
Rangers inside the sanctuary have killed 94 since 2001. Not one Dingo should be killed inside a protection zone, that is hypocrisy and stupidity. The idiot parents that cant control their children should be fined for irresponsibility. Would these same careless parents let their children run uncontrolled inside a lion park or crocadile ranch? Dingoes are wild animals. No justification can be made that endorses the erradication of the Dingo gene pool.
The entire mindset that is backward and redneck has to be changed. The victimisation of Jen Parkhurst after the house invasion by 5 rangers and a cop that confiscated all records and research papers, film and studies – as well as paintings Jen worked on for over 8 years is appalling and sounds like a vault file from El Salvador in the 1980s – not the Australia we are told we live in, ‘you know, the land that is democratic and free and all that hogwash’! Jen has now been accused of a multitude of wrong doings and the idiots that kill Dingoes continue without condemantion or question because of people in political power that have NO idea and endorse this extermination of our Australian Icon.
Apathy is the greatest tragedy in this land, as most people are too spoilt to give a hoot about anything except themselves.
Jen is exceptional and there is no question the passion and love for the Dingo has resulted in this persecution so the authorities can keep all film, records and research without retribution. It stinks of a coverup by the authorities! Most people are not aware the Dingo is by every definition Australian and yet is the ONLY Wildlife in the land that has NO Protection. That is a National Disgrace. Dingoes have to be given Protection to ensure their survival. They are the top land predator and guardian of our ecosystem. Dingoes control the cat, fox, goat and pig numbers and keep the kangaroo population in tow. They maintain growth levels of animals and birds that are on the verge of extinction eg Bilby, Numbat, Mallee Fowl, this is fact supported by Scientists calling for the Dingoes protection inside Australia and beyond. We have a Minister for the Environment who blasts the Japanese for Whaling yet endorses the Dingo extermination. Double standard of hypocrisy and slack attitude to this important topic which is his portfolio is hard to understand. I once was a fan of that man who sang songs that meant something. I now would question his credability?
Dingoes are as important as Whales.
Wake up Aussies before the Dingo ends up on a shelf in a museum next to the Thylacine as just another fossil listed on our World record chart of Mammal extinctions!
I have recently heard of the plight of this amazing woman Jennifer Parkhurst, and cannot believe what I’ve been reading on the websites. Also the fact that most of her information has been removed from the internet and is therefore unattainable. I thought Australia stood for freedom of speech and democracy…not in this case it seems.
At the risk of being too political, it would appear that illegal immigrants get a better deal than this researcher, who has been doing her best to save the Fraser Island Dingo.
There MUST be more important issues for the Govt. and DERM to worry about and then perhaps they might like to spend some time learning a little more about these fantastic animals. As the previous gentleman stated…Wake Up Australia!!
How can you use the phrase “amazing woman” and “Jennifer Parkhurst” in the same sentence? Especially so when the topic is about protecting our Dingos. Isn’t she the woman who was recently charged with the offence of “interfering with” wild dingos? How sick is that? In my opinion, there are very few crimes worse than interfering with innocent animals, and I believe that she wasn’t satisfied with simply interfering with them, but she also took photos of the act as well.
Patricia,
You ask “How sick is that?”
Can I suggest that based on the rest of your post, you should know.
Sadman
P.S. You haven’t answered my question regarding the grass.
The only crime Ms Pankhurst is guilty of in my humble opinion is making the EPA look like the fools they are by attempting to highlight their plight.
It is interesting, if you found a mongrel bitsa dog on the street starving you would be questioned if you did not at least attempt to give it some sustenance but dingos on the island are a different story.
Yes she may be guilty of feeding dingos but then so was one of the EPA’s own rangers.. great to see at least someone in their ranks had something of a social conscience.
Either they take the dogs off the island or they determine a suitable method to ensure an ongoing food source for the animals so they don’t pose a threat to visitors on the island.
If only it were so simple!
The Dingo, I believe, is an introduced species from India ( check it out ).
Anyway, open your heart to allow creatures to live alongside us
And if you do, you must be responsible for their actions.
I love animals in all form or arrival as long as they respect me
Having an animal friend also means responsibitly, well you knew that anyway.
Thanks for reading this
There’s a big difference between “feeding” hungry dogs, and “interfering” with them. You have been sucked in by the spin provided by Ms Pankhurst’s legal team. Read the brief of evidence for the full story, not what you read in the story provided to the newspapers.