OPINION: Radical response only option for dingoes

THE day the Fraser Island Dingo Management Strategy was signed, the fate of the dingo population was sealed

DINGO DRAMA: Fraser Coast Chronicle editor, Jessica Grewal, says a 'radical response' is needed on Fraser Island.

THE day the Fraser Island Dingo Management Strategy was signed, the fate of the dingo population was sealed.

Deliberate or not, the end result was always going to be slow but sure extermination.

The recent attack is cause for alarm, not just because of the impact on the victims and their family but because it brings us closer to an inevitable conclusion.

Unless we act now.

While it may already be too late (scientists and conservationists not drawing a government wage believe numbers are dangerous if not impossibly low) surely everyone can agree that the dingo population cannot survive if we continue down this path.

Dingo attacks, or shows any level of aggression towards human - dingo is destroyed despite being stripped of food sources like brumbies. This is not a sustainable solution.

And unless a contributing factor is changed, we are going to see more attacks.

In a natural environment safety measures mitigate risk - they don't eliminate it.

The island situation isn't helped however by the fact that despite rangers and tourism providers doing an outstanding job in creating dingo awareness and ample signage and images in various languages, many visitors still don't get the message.

If the aim truly is to ensure the best outcome for both the dingoes and the tourism industry we need a reset.

Whether it's setting up feeding stations in controlled environments as Hervey Bay MP Ted Sorensen once suggested, resisting euthanasia where a victim has not heeded a warning or relocating dingoes to mainland sanctuaries, every wild idea should be on the table.

Radical control measures of the past are failing the people and the dingoes.

Radical response is the only option for the future.