No Go To Dingoes
Western Victorian MP Bev McArthur has told Parliament that the livelihoods of sheep farmers are threatened by a proposal to reintroduce Dingoes into the Grampians National Park.
Under Park Victoria’s draft Management Plan for the Grampians National Park, which was released for public consideration on 11th November, a proposal was made to reintroduce Dingoes after almost 200 years of extinction in south west Victoria.
Mrs McArthur used an Adjournment Debate to the Minister for Agriculture to slam the idea and said this “proposal has sent a shiver down the spine of many surrounding sheep farmers”.
The Grampians National Park is surrounded by some of Victoria’s most productive sheep grazing country. The introduction of Dingoes would inflict enormous economic costs and have grave animal welfare implications.
She said “the fact such an ill-considered proposal has been made by our peak public land custodian is cause for great concern. The introduction of Dingoes would constitute a devastating and existential conflict with grazing”.
“It is fantastical and wholly impractical to think that Parks Victoria could successfully contain a Dingo population that interfaces with some of this State’s most productive grazing land, especially when one considers an adult Dingo’s hunting range is in the tens of kilometres”.
“What of the taxpayer cost and environmental impact of fencing the entire park, as surely would be required if Dingoes moved in?”
Mrs McArthur continued by detailing the horrific injuries sheep can suffer in a Dingo attack, explaining that “more than 50 sheep may be mauled at a time. That’s $15,000 worth of livestock. Not to mention the enormous cost to animal welfare”.
“Dingo attacks on sheep are cruel in the extreme. Dingoes are known to prefer the taste of a single organ and in so doing, disembowel sheep after sheep; leaving them to die an excruciatingly slow death”.
She emphasised the important roll livestock production plays in the local economy: “livestock production creates employment, local investment and taxation revenue, without which Parks Victoria would not have the resources to engage in such ill-advised theoretical exercises, such as this proposal”.
She concluded by urging the Minister “to reassure farmers that the potential impact on their livelihoods is considered and to undertake that Dingoes will not be introduced into the Grampians National Park”.
27 November 2020