25 April 2020 | New Scientist | 39ecotourism. As a mid-size, highly adaptable
canid, the dingo is more analogous to the
coyote than the larger wolf. Nevertheless,
Newsome believes dingoes could play a similar
role in ecological restoration. He has even
come up with a plan to test this idea. He
proposes realigning the existing dingo-proof
fence to reintroduce dingoes to an area of Sturt
national park, in north-western New South
Wales, and then documenting their role in
ecological change. He predicts that foxes and
cats would suffer, kangaroo numbers would
be better regulated, vegetation would return
and soil quality would improve. As a result,
populations of native insects, reptiles, birds
and mammals would bounce back. “I feel
like that’s a story that will help garner both
ecological knowledge about the role of the
dingo, but also what it can do if we were to
stop controlling it,” he says.
When Newsome published a proposal
for his idea in 2015, he acknowledged that it
would be a challenge. He was right. The plan
encountered resistance at state and federal
government level, and nobody would finance it.
“It’s too politically charged,” he says. “You can
get lots of money to work on how to control
dingoes. In terms of studying them for an
ecological role, it’s a bit harder.”
Given the ecological damage done by
last summer’s fires, this seems like a missed
opportunity. What’s more, the ongoing
eradication of dingoes may well be storing
up trouble for the future. Bradshaw points out
that Australia’s mammalian extinction rate is
the highest in the world, with 34 species lost
in the past 250 years, at a steady rate of one
to two per decade. It is perfectly plausible
that the dingo could go the same way, he says,
“probably not anytime soon, but we’re not
doing it any favours. And by proxy, we’re not
doing our already degraded environments
many favours either.”
Although attitudes are starting to change,
there is clearly a long way to go. “There are a
lot of dingo [proponents] around, but we get
persecuted, because we speak up about them,”
says Ings. From high up on his mountain in
dingo country, his view differs from many
landowners. “There’s no other native animal
that has been so persecuted,” he says. “It’s
wrong – especially given how important they
are to the ecosystem.” ❚Elle Hunt is a writer and journalist
based in London. She was a
reporter for Guardian Australia
in Sydney for three years“indicating that they need those genes to
live in the wild”, says Cairns. Moreover, one
in four was “pure” dingo – suggesting that
lethal control programmes are putting the
genetic integrity of dingoes at risk. “We do
have populations that are of really high
conservation value, but we’re making no
concessions to protect them,” says Cairns.
Those vulnerable packs will soon be dealt
another blow by the bush-fire recovery
programme. Of the federal government’s
A$50 million package, up to A$7 million has
been earmarked for emergency interventions,
including pest control. With habitats under
pressure after the fires, vulnerable native
species are at even greater threat from
predation and competition from invasive pests
such as feral cats and foxes. But dingoes will
also suffer in the drive against those pests. In
New South Wales, the plan is to drop 1 million
poisoned baits over vast swathes of burned
and unburned bush in the coming year, as
part of the biggest feral animal cull the state
has seen. The state government’s strategy
says “strict approvals and evidence-based
guidelines are in place to mitigate the risks to
native species and domestic animals”. But the
target area includes known hotspots of pure
dingoes, says Cairns.
This isn’t just a conservation issue. Growing
evidence indicates that by removing dingoes,
entire ecosystems become unbalanced.Comparing conditions on either side of the
dingo fence, Letnic has found that the absence
of these predators is linked to a dramatic rise
in shrubs that cause trouble for farmers. In
other research he found that dingoes control
the number of kangaroos, which has a positive
effect at all ecological levels, right down to the
health of the soil. Kangaroos compete with
cattle for grass, so this could benefit farmers
too. And there is some evidence that dingoes
keep feral cats and foxes in check.Ecological balance
The science is highly contested, however.
“The potential ecological benefits of dingoes
remain speculative,” says Mifsud. Letnic
believes the response to dingo management
needs to be more nuanced. “Dingoes are
of value; they are also a pest. They can be
both,” he says. However, he and other
conservationists know it will be difficult
to persuade people that dingoes should be
preserved and encouraged to thrive. “We’re
talking about many generational legacies of
this human-wildlife conflict – it’s not going
to disappear overnight,” says ecologist Corey
Bradshaw at Flinders University in Adelaide.
Newsome believes that what is needed
is a positive story about dingoes – like the
one told about wolves in Yellowstone.
Their reintroduction 25 years ago has had a
transformative effect on that park’s ecosystem,
increasing elk and deer populations, stabilising
plant life and riverbanks, and boosting the
economy by $35 million annually throughFor over a century, a fence
has kept dingoes out of
south-east AustraliaCH
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