Ditch The Dingo Plan
The Victorian Government has been asked to undertake a full assessment of the ecological arguments for and against reintroducing dingoes into the Grampians National Park.
The idea was raised in the Greater Gariwerd Landscape: Draft Management Plan released by Parks Victoria in November.
The suggestion has alarmed locals and farmers in the area.
Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur, advised the Parliament that nearly 3000 people have signed a petition against the idea.
“It takes no imagination to understand the potential damage to some of the state’s best grazing land which surrounds the park,” Mrs McArthur said.
“Nor does it stretch credibility, knowing Parks Victoria’s record, to realise that attempting to keep dingoes within the park would be extremely expensive and almost certain to fail.
“Even the purported environmental benefit of the scheme is highly questionable.”
A dingo breeder of 40 years, John Higgins, has warned of the danger to livestock and native animals.
“He believes that while dingoes would preference sheep populations, koalas would also be threatened, as would the critically endangered brush-tailed rock wallaby only recently re-introduced to the Grampians.”
Mrs McArthur has praised the work of local farmers John and Rhonda Crawford of Rock-Bank merino stud who have led a response against the dingo plan in the realisation that the Parks idea is genuine.
“The public response was at first muted because the idea is so outlandish that most people with little experience of Parks Victoria considered it too ridiculous to be serious.
“People are coming to understand that common sense is no requirement in these matters and the most absurd ideas can eventuate if the flaws are not widely exposed.”
Mrs McArthur has asked the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio, to undertake the re-assessment of the dingo re-introduction plan.
“For if even the ecological case is weak, as I have no doubt it will be, then the whole idea surely must be removed from the landscape management plan before its ultimate approval.”
10 February 2021