K’gari dingo attack: Ex-National Parks boss admits he won’t take his family to the island again

A former boss of Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service, who used to camp on K’gari every year, says he won’t take his grandchildren back to the island amid a rise in the “pack behaviour” of dingoes.

A former boss of Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service, who used to camp on K’gari every year, says he won’t take his grandchildren back to the island amid a rise in the “pack behaviour” of dingoes.

It comes after Brisbane woman, Sarah Peet, was attacked by a pack of dingoes while running on Orchid Beach at K’gari on Monday morning.

The former boss of QNPWS, Paul Blake said he took his children camping on the western side of K’gari nearly every year for 15 years but never had any trouble with dingoes.

“We respected the dingoes and never had any trouble from them. Why? Because the QNPWS in the 1980s had a proactive policy of removing any dingoes that showed aggression towards humans,” he said.

Mr Blake said the team that looked after conservation in the 1980s “developed a policy where they realised that if a dingo was becoming aggressive that it would teach the other dingoes (that same behaviour) – they would remove that (problem) dingo.”

Dingoes are adopting a “pack mentality”, former boss of Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service Paul Blake says. Picture: Liam Kidston

“This early action meant the aggressive dogs did not pass their bad behaviour to the others,” he said.

“Two years ago we took our grandkids to (K’gari) so they could experience the wonders of the island like their father had as a child.

“The trip was ruined by the pack behaviour of the dingoes even though our grandkids had adults with them at all times. A pack of six stalking our daughter-in-law as she walked with her 5 year old was the last straw. We will not go back.”

“One thing I learnt in my years at QNPWS was that if the community loves a place like the island they will be strong protectors of it. Current policies which have resulted in a huge increase in dingo attacks will result in nobody wanting to go to Fraser Island and nobody will care about its future.”

Mr Blake said it is “about time the government ‘woke up’ and changed the approach to dingoes on (K’gari)”.

Senior ranger Linda Behrendorff, on Monday, said the animals involved in the attack had been identified and were being monitored and watched ahead of any decisions regarding the future of those dingoes.

Brazen dingoes at Eli Creek interacting with humans. Picture: Liam Kidston

Ms Behrendorff said vision from people who witnessed the incident had been provided to the department but that one of the dingoes involved in the attack had been identified as having “high risk potential” following a previous incident in which it had lunged “with intent to make contact”.

Any decision regarding the futures of the dingoes involved would be made at “much higher levels”, she said.

But Cheryl Bryant from Save The Fraser Island Dingoes said Monday’s attack could have been “avoided”.

“Again we have an incident that could have been avoided but instead we have a tourist in hospital and the fate of the dingoes involved hanging in the balance.” she said.

“The rules clearly state do not run or jog. People who flaunt these rules should receive substantial fines, but this is not the case. Tourists are fined for feeding, and rightly so, but parents who leave their children unsupervised, which is a regular occurrence, or ignore the rules, are not held accountable.

“It is human ignorance and interference that have caused the problems on K’gari but is the wongari (dingo) that always pays the price. Recently a 7km fence was erected around the Orchid Beach township, this has caused confusion and the animals have had to adjust to new boundaries.

“It is also breeding season where mothers are fending for their pups and last year’s young are finding their territories.

“A person running on the beach would trigger the chase response from these young animals who are testing their strength and dominance. It is natural predator behaviour. We cannot keep destroying dingoes for simply being dingoes.”

Ms Byrant said these animals at Orchid Beach are “a group of young juveniles, much like unruly teenagers”.