HABITS OF THE DINGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21247, 29 July 1932, Page 12

HABITS OF THE DINGO

AUSTRALIA'S WILD DOG | TROUBLESOME PESTS EXTENSIVE POISONING DRIVE Sonic interesting particulars of tho characteristics of the dingo, Australia s most dangerous animal—and the most troublesome, apart from rabbits—are published by tho Sydney Mail. Tho inforinatiou is supplied by a number of contributors. The dingo is to be found in most wooded areas. Tho average "dog" stands between two feet, and two feet six inches high, is long and powerfully built, and has a sharp, strong, menacing snout. Its appoaranco is sleek and clean, the most frequent colour being tan. Its abode is a hollow log or tree stump, from which it seldom absents itself during daylight, being essentially a night prowler. It relics on its fleotnosa of foot, keen sight, cunning and highly developed instincts for its protection and to provido its food, which consists largely of tho blood -of sheep or calves, whose throat it tears open and drinks from the rich warm stream flowing from tho severed jugular vein. Dingoes usually hunt as a pack, their courngo being of a low order; but occasionally one braver and more resourceful than tho others will hunt on its' own. This solo worker often does the flocks moro injury than a whole pack, and is more elusive. Killing When at Play Dingoes kill many sheep and calves every year, but the damage they do in this respect is hardly 'as great as the sheep they cripple and wound when the half-grown dingo pups are out for sport and play. From a distance observers have seen half a dozen young dingoes round up a mob of sheep. While ono or two of their number hold the mob together the rest rush in, snapping and biting any sheep that is in their way. They are not out for food, but merely to semi-satisfy their lust for killing or for drawing blood. Even if a sheep is caught and worried to death while tho young dingoes are at play it is improbable that anything of it will be eaten, for when this play-about manoeuvre takes place tho dingoes have invariably full stomachs and are not hungry. A correspondent says:—"l once disturbed five dingo half-growns that had ! rounded up 50 odd sheop in a fence corner. I had a careful look through the sheep and found that 23 of them had been bitten." Dingoes and Human Beings It is generally saitf that a. dingo will not attack a man. The following incident shows how close one came to doing so. A fencer, hearing some dingoes howling close by, imitated tho bellow of a calf. Three largo yellow warrigals came trottins out of a gully. The man threw stones at them. Promptly tho two bitches ran away; but the dog, with a half yap. half howl, came bounding fiercely toward him. Tho fencer, picking up a stick, struck at the dog, but it was just cur enough not to meet its adversary. Three times the powerful animal rushed at the man, yapping and snarling, taking care always to retreat before the fencer could get close enough to strike it. Eventually it turned tail and fled. The dog may have been a half-breed. The dingoes, after being reared from pups are often crossed with cattle and ! sheep dogs. Neither tho pure nor half- | bred dingoes make satisfactory pets. They may be taught to follow a man, but they are poor companions and arts never reliable. They are always "killers." A special drive is being made this winter by the Queensland Government to combat the pest. As part of the Gov- . ernment's scheme a "dingo bait" factory I has been established in Brisbane. Tho | plant is capable of turning out 20,000 baits j per day. Every care is taken to appeal to the epicurean tastes of the elusive marauder of the west. The best ingredients are used—mutton fat, flour, salt, dried blood, etc. Strychnine, of course, enters into the mixture. The baits are thrown into a tuft of gras3 or bush by the cattle or sheep track, where the dingo finds them. Each bait contains enough poison to kill two dingoes.