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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 423257" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>I have never been to Fraser Island, but plenty of my family have. It's a place where people can drive their 4WDs (SUVs) over sand, because it is, I believe, the largest sand island in the world. It's accessible only by car ferry. Vehicles are not allowed all over the island, only in designated areas. But people bring food and they either leave rubbish for the dingoes to eat, or they feed them against the rules. Or the dingoes steal stuff. The wild dingoes get too bold and will try to steal anything. They don't discriminate between leftover food and a wandering child.</p><p></p><p>The Fraser Island dingoes are much whiter than the mainland dingoes. A beautiful animal, but scary. Adults who get off track alone are also vulnerable to dingo attack - they will kill as a pack if they think the animal (or human) is potentially prey.</p><p></p><p>I've told the story of when difficult child 3 was little, about 2 years old, and e were on holiday on the Gold Coast (Fraser Island is just off the coast there). As we are zoo junkies, we went to various wildlife parks in the area including Fleay's. At Fleay's there were a lot of animal pens, large enclosures with high wire fences and boardwalks for people to walk through. That way you could watch the animals from higher up. It was great for difficult child 3 who, as a little kid, would not have seen much otherwise. </p><p>Fleay's had lots of different types of dingoes in enclosures. Most of these had been bred there, in captivity. But there were about ten or more dingoes in each large pen, each from a different area. As we walked around, we had let difficult child 3 out of his stroller and he was running on ahead, playing. We could see him but we were about 10 metres behind him on the boardwalk which was completely protected by very high mesh fences topped with inhanging barbed wire. We noted that the Fraser Island enclosure was even more securely fenced. As difficult child 3 ran into the area where this enclosure was, I saw the dingoes there fan out and start to work him like a pack hunting. They had no chance of getting to him, but if that fence had not been there, they would have had him in a minute. No sound at all, just their intent gaze as they stalked him as a pack. Then suddenly the sound of bodies hitting the wire - dingoes were throwing themselves at the fence, tying to get the kid on the other side. difficult child 3 just laughed at the "funny doggies", he had no sense of danger. We grabbed him, strapped him into the stroller and got him out of there. And reported the interaction to the keepers. Such behaviour in zoo animals is a major concern. Last we heard, those dingoes were taken off exhibit.</p><p></p><p>I have rarely been so scared, and have no real desire to visit Fraser island.</p><p></p><p>We do have some dangerous animals in Australia, but we are careful and we know the risks at all times. Tasmanian Devils are nothing like the creature in Bugs Bunny cartoons, except for the ferocity. They are the size of a small corgi, but you do not want to try to pat one (unless the zoo keeper says it's OK). They have a jaw strong enough to bite through solid bone. At the zoos in Tasmania, they feed the Devils on road-kill kangaroo. We visited Tasmania Devil Park (when difficult child 3 was 11 years old) and they told us of a Cape Barren Goose (very large turkey-sized Aussie bird) which had been flying around and touched down inside the Devil enclosure. It never got the chance to take off again. The keepers saw it happen but had no chance to save the bird. Gone in seconds. No need to feed those Devils that night!</p><p></p><p>The dingoes that attacked the girl - they would have done it again at the next opportunity, it is learned behaviour. The trouble is, the rest of the pack will have learned this too. They need to either remove the dingoes, or fence them off from the areas where people go. Or stop people going there.</p><p></p><p>The trouble is, the island is administered by Queensland government, perhaps the most lax in Australia when it comes to laws on interaction with wildlife. This was not the first attack and will certainly not be the last. Sadly.</p><p></p><p>When Azaria Chamberlain was taken from her parents' tent by a dingo at Uluru, the end result was a ban on camping at the Rock. Rules changed, even though for some years people believed that the mother murdered the baby; she was in jail for it until they found proof that she had told the truth. A major miscarriage of justice. But there are many more dingoes in that area than on Fraser Island, but far fewer attacks especially these days, because dingo-human interaction has been greatly curtailed.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 423257, member: 1991"] I have never been to Fraser Island, but plenty of my family have. It's a place where people can drive their 4WDs (SUVs) over sand, because it is, I believe, the largest sand island in the world. It's accessible only by car ferry. Vehicles are not allowed all over the island, only in designated areas. But people bring food and they either leave rubbish for the dingoes to eat, or they feed them against the rules. Or the dingoes steal stuff. The wild dingoes get too bold and will try to steal anything. They don't discriminate between leftover food and a wandering child. The Fraser Island dingoes are much whiter than the mainland dingoes. A beautiful animal, but scary. Adults who get off track alone are also vulnerable to dingo attack - they will kill as a pack if they think the animal (or human) is potentially prey. I've told the story of when difficult child 3 was little, about 2 years old, and e were on holiday on the Gold Coast (Fraser Island is just off the coast there). As we are zoo junkies, we went to various wildlife parks in the area including Fleay's. At Fleay's there were a lot of animal pens, large enclosures with high wire fences and boardwalks for people to walk through. That way you could watch the animals from higher up. It was great for difficult child 3 who, as a little kid, would not have seen much otherwise. Fleay's had lots of different types of dingoes in enclosures. Most of these had been bred there, in captivity. But there were about ten or more dingoes in each large pen, each from a different area. As we walked around, we had let difficult child 3 out of his stroller and he was running on ahead, playing. We could see him but we were about 10 metres behind him on the boardwalk which was completely protected by very high mesh fences topped with inhanging barbed wire. We noted that the Fraser Island enclosure was even more securely fenced. As difficult child 3 ran into the area where this enclosure was, I saw the dingoes there fan out and start to work him like a pack hunting. They had no chance of getting to him, but if that fence had not been there, they would have had him in a minute. No sound at all, just their intent gaze as they stalked him as a pack. Then suddenly the sound of bodies hitting the wire - dingoes were throwing themselves at the fence, tying to get the kid on the other side. difficult child 3 just laughed at the "funny doggies", he had no sense of danger. We grabbed him, strapped him into the stroller and got him out of there. And reported the interaction to the keepers. Such behaviour in zoo animals is a major concern. Last we heard, those dingoes were taken off exhibit. I have rarely been so scared, and have no real desire to visit Fraser island. We do have some dangerous animals in Australia, but we are careful and we know the risks at all times. Tasmanian Devils are nothing like the creature in Bugs Bunny cartoons, except for the ferocity. They are the size of a small corgi, but you do not want to try to pat one (unless the zoo keeper says it's OK). They have a jaw strong enough to bite through solid bone. At the zoos in Tasmania, they feed the Devils on road-kill kangaroo. We visited Tasmania Devil Park (when difficult child 3 was 11 years old) and they told us of a Cape Barren Goose (very large turkey-sized Aussie bird) which had been flying around and touched down inside the Devil enclosure. It never got the chance to take off again. The keepers saw it happen but had no chance to save the bird. Gone in seconds. No need to feed those Devils that night! The dingoes that attacked the girl - they would have done it again at the next opportunity, it is learned behaviour. The trouble is, the rest of the pack will have learned this too. They need to either remove the dingoes, or fence them off from the areas where people go. Or stop people going there. The trouble is, the island is administered by Queensland government, perhaps the most lax in Australia when it comes to laws on interaction with wildlife. This was not the first attack and will certainly not be the last. Sadly. When Azaria Chamberlain was taken from her parents' tent by a dingo at Uluru, the end result was a ban on camping at the Rock. Rules changed, even though for some years people believed that the mother murdered the baby; she was in jail for it until they found proof that she had told the truth. A major miscarriage of justice. But there are many more dingoes in that area than on Fraser Island, but far fewer attacks especially these days, because dingo-human interaction has been greatly curtailed. Marg [/QUOTE]
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