Stop feeding dingoes: council warning after "threatening" pack euthanised

MidCoast Council said it had no other choice but to take the action after five dogs were displaying increasingly threatening behaviour. A renewed plea has been issued for people to stop feeding the animals.

The three males and two females had been involved in at least five incidents involving people and domestic pets over the last month, all increasing in ferocity.

Council's senior ecologist Matt Bell said the dogs were considered an unacceptable public risk.

Council is again urging the community to refrain from approaching or feeding dingoes.

National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS) and Local Land Services began surveillance of the group.

Council follows an adopted dingo management procedure that is a risk management model based on the highly successful program in place on Fraser Island.

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service does not cull dingoes on Fraser Island. The Queensland government considers public safety to be the number one priority in managing the Fraser Island dingo population. It is for this reason that any dingo identified as a high-risk may be euthanised.

"We are all really disappointed that it has come to this," Mr Bell said.

"We know that dingoes can and should be allowed to live around the Hawks Nest area, but human intervention - while those feeding them may think they're being kind - is what has caused the dangerous change in this pack's behaviour."

Mr Bell said when dingoes are fed by humans, the territory where this frequently occurs becomes worth defending and sometimes within days they may become territorial and exhibit increased aggression.

"It's imperative that the community gets behind this important message and please, do not approach or feed the dingoes.

"We cannot have this continue, ultimately it's the dingoes that suffer."

Council has created an online reporting form for members of the public to share information about interactions and incidents with dingoes, while rangers have also been advised to issue penalties to anyone caught ignoring Dingo Smart advice.

"We're also working closely with experts from Taronga Zoo and the University of NSW to increase understanding of the dingoes in our region and we'll be running a pre-Easter awareness campaign to ensure everyone is on board to protect our dingoes before the holiday period, we'll need the community to be advocates and lead by example to stop tourists from feeding and approaching dingoes too."

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