Rangers are rejecting calls for a dingo cull at the popular Australian tourist spot of K'gari despite a woman being hospitalised after she was attacked by a pack of wild dogs while jogging on a beach.
She was flown to Hervey Bay Hospital in stable condition with wounds to her limbs and torso after suffering multiple bite injuries at around 9 a.m. on Monday, the Queensland Ambulance Service said.
K'gari, which was formerly known as Fraser Island, has a large population of indigenous dogs, with 100 to 200 animals estimated to populate the island.
Wildlife rangers said at least three dingoes attacked the 24-year-old while she jogged at Orchid Beach on the island’s northeast.
She ran into the water to escape the pack.
Two men in a four-wheel-drive saw the incident and rushed into the ocean to help, placing the injured woman in the back of their ute and driving her to safety.
First aid was applied to the woman’s injuries, and one of the men sustained an injury to his hand during the rescue.
The attack follows two previous attacks in the past two months with an eight-year-old boy being attacked on a beach earlier this month and a dingo dragging a 10-year-old boy under water in June. Nevertheless, the rangers have angrily rejected calls to cull the dingo population on the tourist destination.
“Culling in the situation on K'gari is not an option,” ranger-in-charge Linda Behrendorff said.
“Our job is to mitigate risk.
“You need to know the individuals, you need to work with the individual dingoes, and you also need to work with the situation that those dingoes are in.”
“We have been led to believe that she was running alone initially,” Ms. Berendorff said.
“We need to work with people that are visiting the island–how not to put yourself in a situation that may lead to a compromising position.”
At least one of the animals in the pack was classified as a risk and has a collar with a device to track movement and behaviour.
“It is an animal with high-risk potential about it,” Ms. Behrendorff said.
“One of the dingoes we have identified has been involved in a previous incident which was involved in contact ... it was lunging with an intent to make contact.”
Camera collars have been used to track dingo movements and their human interactions on the island since 2011.
The collars are lightweight and are worn by dingoes for up to three months, releasing via a timed drop-off mechanism.
The attack has prompted safety warnings for visitors.
Rangers attribute the rise in attacks to increasing numbers of people defying restrictions to feed and interact with the animals.
“This is not normal dingo behaviour,” ranger Danielle Mansfield after a recent attack.
“We’re seeing an increase in habituated animals, unfortunately, from people inadvertently or deliberately feeding animals.
“This creates animals who are not wary of people, and they are brazenly going up to adults and children and having inappropriate interactions with them.”
Rangers reminded visitors to remain vigilant, especially when supervising children.
“There are too many instances where children are not being appropriately supervised—on K'gari, this means children and teenagers must be within arm’s reach of an adult at all times,” she said.
