Dr Ben Allen, a wildlife researcher and an expert on dingoes, living in Australia has provoked uproar by urging Australia to consider exporting its wild dogs as meat to Asian countries including China to feed their diners!
When are Australia going to get their act together? What are they going to start behaving in a civilised way towards animals and when will those in authority in Australia hold up a mirror to themselves and ask the question, “How did we come to have such an uncivilised and unethical attitude towards animals?”
Apparently, cattle and sheep farmers are concerned about roaming packs of dogs. The dogs are quite large and threatening. They are the offspring of native dingoes mating with hunting dogs who have escaped. So here we have Australians breeding hunting dogs in captivity who escape and then mate with Australia’s wild dingo. Once again we have a predicament which has been created by Australians and their solution is inhumane; pathetic, I would argue.
Dr Ben Allen said:
“I think the first reaction from people when they hear the idea of selling wild dog meat to Asia is, ‘How could you possibly put our animals through that?’, but the dogs are already being killed through trapping and shooting.”
Apparently between 10,000 to 15,000 wild dog “scalps” are handed into local governments for bounty payment. This is a shocking figure and shows a breakdown in an attempt to humanely deal with animals in Australia.
To compound matters, the bodies of dead dogs are often hung from trees or fences or left to rot. Dr Allen thought that that was a waste of good nutrition! Hence his suggestion that Australia export wild dog meat to Asia.
He does, however, admit that dog meat raises ethical questions. Yes, it definitely does. He seems to be putting aside the emotional and ethical issues. He wishes to make the point that he is not recommending that purebred native dingoes are killed for export. His target is the tens of thousands of crossbreeds living in the outback of Australia.
Unsurprisingly, Dr Allen’s proposal has angered animal activists. He’s even received death threats. A petition has been set up to have a conference scheduled for this month in Brisbane to be called off or his paper (I presume his suggestion in writing) be removed from the schedule of events at the conference.
In defence of Australia’s wild dog, Ernest Healy of the National Dingo Preservation and Recovery Programme has said that Australia’s wild dog was a unique and distinctive animal and genetically predominantly dingo. The Australian wild dog is very well adapted to the Australian environment.
Dingoes, it appears, are persecuted in Australia because they pose a threat to the sheep industry in that country.
There are countless articles on this website and many hundreds on the Internet about how Australia wishes to get rid of feral cats by which I mean exterminate them and all the methods are cruel and barbaric in my opinion. It’s time that Australia change their stance with respect to dogs and cats and think about dealing with them humanely. Often, if not always, the cause of “animal problems” is human behaviour.
Source: Times Newspaper.
Dear Susan Gort, my sentiments exactly_
Thank You
Eva
The problem is hybrid dogs. The dingo itself will eventually be threatened as a unique species if the interbreeding continues. Hybrid dogs can roam in packs and are dangerous. Not just to livestock. I have always said what one loose dog would never consider a pack will go at full tilt. Now picture semi feral dogs with all the mixed up genes roaming in packs.
The trouble with the Australian government is it waits until the situation reaches a crisis before looking for solutions. Australians seem to suffer from a lack of education about S/N or an aversion to it.
Without a doubt mixed hybrid feral dogs need to be eradicated. Unlike feral cats that can be controlled rather quickly by TNR and even chemical birth control feral dogs pose a threat to everyone.
Good grief!!! The Australian government get more idiotic every day. We had people like that here-farmers and ranchers who almost exterminated the wolves and coyotes. And with the wolves, it’s still unknown whether they will survive. The hunters need to keep track of their dogs. There are folks here in the desert who dump their dogs and the dogs breed with coyotes. I’ve known people who have taken in coy-dogs. It can be a crapshoot as to whether the animal will be more doglike or more coyote-like. The human species has screwed up every other species they seek to dominate and control. Australians-you all better wise up, or you will exterminate your wildlife. The Good Lord put us all on the earth to make it better, not destroy it!!!