On October 31, the ABC reported that 'Wandi', a puppy dropped by an eagle in a backyard in rural Victoria, was a pure-bred threatened sub-species of dingo (Canis dingo), the Alpine Dingo.
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A miracle, right? An eagle picked up a wild pup, carried it away and dropped it in a backyard. The dog was taken to an animal hospital, where DNA tests showed it was a rare subspecies of dingo. What are the chances?
As it turns out, not as low as you might think
It's hypothesised that dingoes arrived in Australia more than 5000 years ago, when sea levels were low and Australia was connected to New Guinea. While dingoes had a close relationship with Aboriginal Australians, they were also wild top-level predators spread across the country. Dingoes are a uniquely Australian canine species that play a vital role in many ecosystems.
When Europeans invaded they brought with them sheep and domestic dogs, and dingoes have suffered ever since. Some of the domestic dogs escaped and, like dingoes, started hunting sheep. Farmers and policymakers lumped them in the "wild dog" category hunted, shot, trapped and poisoned dingoes.
Nowadays, the NSW state government classifies dingoes as wild dogs and a threat to livestock. Classed "pest animals", landholders are required to control wild dog populations, including in national parks. The situation is similar in many parts of Victoria.
This determination is largely based on research from the CSIRO. In the 1980s, they analysed over 1100 canines skulls from around Australia and concluded that dogs found in the south-east of Australia were largely hybrid mixes of domestic dogs and dingoes.
But new research from the University of New South Wales, published one day after Wandi's appearance was reported, has revealed that pure dingoes are a lot more common than most people believe.
Researchers tested the DNA of 783 wild canines that were killed as part of pest control measures in NSW. They found that a quarter of all animals were pure dingoes and most were genetically more than 75 per cent dingo. Less than 1 per cent were found to be descended from only domestic dogs.
So, what does this mean for dingoes? Lumping dingoes in the "wild dogs" category appears patently wrong. They are a distinct species important to Australia's ecosystem and should be treated as such. Other means of livestock protection need to be adopted, and protection measures put in place to ensure that Australia's only native canine is no longer killed as a feral "wild dog".
As for Wandi, if NSW is anything to go by, about a quarter of all canines that are dropped by eagles into backyards in Victoria will be pure dingoes. OK, so maybe Wandi is still pretty miraculous.
Response by: Andy Leach
