New DNA study shows 87 per cent of Victorian dingoes are pure

Dingoes are often maligned as “wild dogs” and killed, but new research is set to change the narrative.

Founder of the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary, Research and Education Centre Lyn Watson. Picture: David Caird

Dingo lovers are calling for the dog to be protected from shooting after new research showed pure-bred numbers account for most of the population.

New DNA research showing that 87 per cent of the dogs in Victoria are pure is being used as evidence they are not wild, cross bred pests to be exterminated.

The findings published in published in the journal Molecular Ecology - upends previous estimates that only 16 per cent of dingoes were.

New genetic research shows 87 per cent of Victorian dingoes are pure breed. Pcture: David Caird

Dingo enthusiasts now say the state government must stop the killing of dingoes identified as “wild dogs”, saying that far from hunting sheep, they are crucial to the environment.

Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and Research Centre founder Lyn Watson said the findings confirmed what many supporters had long believed - that dingoes and other dogs were not substantially interbred.

“Dingoes are called wild dogs, which does devalue them, and makes it easier for the public to accept that the killing of them is happening,” she said.

“Dingoes are amazing family animals - the fathers and the mothers look after the cubs, the dads don’t just wander off and leave mum to do all the work.”

Association for Conservation of Australian Dingoes president Marilyn Nuske said the mischaracterisation of dingoes as wild dogs, as pushed by the farm lobby and poisons industry, had to stop.

“There is no credible ecological case for the routine killing of dingoes in Victoria,” she said. “Nor is there any serious case for lethal control based on farm stock predation.”

“The Victorian government’s own data show that farm stock loss to dingo predation in Victoria has been negligible for decades.”

Dingo pups from parents Pumbah and Delilah at the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary. Picture: David Caird

Ms Nuske said the government must end the wild dog bounty and stop using the term as it was misleading and ecologically meaningless.

“It must now be asked whether Victorian environment and agriculture ministers have been

adequately and objectively advised by the relevant departments on dingo conservation,” she said.

Ms Nuske said the association also sought an IBAC investigation into the influence of external agencies and people with vested interests on dingo advice given by Agriculture Victoria.

A state government spokesman said: “We are aware of new research about the genetic status of free ranging dogs in Australia – including wild dogs, dog-dingo hybrids and dingoes.”

“The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action will consider implications of this research for dingo conservation policy in Victoria.”

The dingo is listed as a threatened species under state law and protected.

However, an order made under the Wildlife Act 1975 declared the dingo as unprotected in certain state areas where they threaten livestock.

The dingo research paper was led by University of NSW molecular biologist Dr Kylie Cairns.