Every time Sonya saves a dingo pup, she breaks the law
SOURCE:ABC Australia|BY:Baz Ruddick and Jessica Naunton
When Sonya sees a black-and-tan dingo, she feels a connection to family and Country, but many landholders see them as livestock-killing pests. Can graziers and dingoes co-exist?
Jirrbal woman Sonya Takau says saving dingoes and advocating for the often-maligned apex predator has become her life's priority — even though it means she's often breaking the law.
The dingo is the totem of the men in Ms Takau's family, and the black-and-tan rainforest dingo is part of her creation story.
"They are family and we have to protect and care for these animals," Ms Takau said.
"We strongly believe that when we die, we go back into the being of our totems or where our language name comes from."
Dingo pup Billy was rescued from the side of the road in northern Queensland. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
Under Queensland legislation, landholders are permitted to shoot or trap dingoes or wild dogs that pose a threat to livestock on their properties.
Dingoes, which are thought to have migrated to the Australian mainland about 5,000 years ago, are only protected within national parks or in other designated areas.
"Government legislation basically says you can't keep, feed or give away a dingo because they're classified as a restricted, invasive animal, and dingoes and hybrids come under that term of 'wild dog'," Ms Takau said.
"As an Aboriginal person, I find that legislation very offensive, because there was lore on these lands long before the white man came here, and that was my ancestors' [lore]."
Despite it being illegal, Ms Takau is part of a network of dingo rescuers who, when given pups found by members of the public, send them to dingo sanctuaries interstate.
"As human beings, we've demonised the dingo for 233 years in this country,"
she said.
"We've not given the animal the credit that is due to it.
"It's a beautiful animal. It's an intelligent animal, and it plays an important role for biodiversity."
Dingo pup Billy would likely have died if he had not been rescued. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
Call to end dingo deaths
Queensland's Wild Dog Management Strategy is set to be reviewed and renewed next year.
Ms Takau would like that review to have input from First Nations people.
She wants to see a "friendlier" and "more humane way" for graziers and dingoes to co-exist.
"We need to sit down and discuss at a table what co-existence means and identify how that can be implemented," she said.
A dingo seen on a camera trap set up by Girringun Rangers. (Supplied: Girringun Aboriginal Corporation)
In 2023, the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation in Cardwell, in North Queensland, hosted a dingo forum to discuss methods of management and legislation, and to provide a First Nations' perspective.
As a result, 20 First Nations groups signed the National Dingo Declaration, which sets out the status of the dingo as a sacred animal and stipulates that the term 'wild dog' should not be used when referring to dingoes.
It also calls for an end to the lethal control of dingoes.
The National Dingo Declaration calls for dingoes to be recognised as a culturally significant native species. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
While exact dingo numbers are difficult to ascertain due to the animal's elusive nature, the Australian Dingo Foundation believes the species is under threat in parts of Victoria, New South Wales and southern Queensland due to lethal control practices and urban and agricultural expansion.
As part of the Queensland Feral Pest Initiative, the state government has spent $19.8 million over the past decade helping landholders build cluster fencing, which aims to protect groups of properties from dingoes and wild dogs.
The federal government committed an additional $9.3 million to the initiative.
When it comes to biosecurity, outside of protected areas dingoes fall under the umbrella term 'wild dog' in Queensland. It also includes dingo-dog hybrids and non-domestic dogs.
The cost of wild dog attacks on livestock across Australia is thought to be about $90 million a year, according to the National Wild Dog Action Plan.
Paul Doneley says many farmers have moved away from sheep and smaller livestock due to dog attacks. (ABC News: Hannah Walsh)
A Department of Primary Industries spokesperson said the dog-proof cluster fence funding had helped to protect 516 sheep-producing properties, spanning nearly 6 million hectares.
Grazier Paul Doneley, from Barcaldine in Central West Queensland, represents peak agricultural body AgForce on a government wild dog advisory committee.
Mr Doneley, whose property, Dunraven, has been in his family since 1909, said wild dogs had always been a problem for landholders, but numbers had increased as the popularity of small stock, such as sheep and goats, had grown.
"Probably controls haven't been as well done as in the past, so we've seen numbers increase in the last 10 to 20 years," Mr Doneley said.
Mr Doneley said while there may be pure dingoes in Queensland, he believed the majority of dogs in the Barcaldine region were mixed breeds.
Dogs are thought to be responsible for thousands of livestock deaths each year. (Supplied)
He said that following the millennium drought about 13 years ago, his livestock were hit consistently by packs of dogs.
"We lost hundreds to thousands [of animals] over a fair period there," he said.
"It was either fence or get out of small stock because we were losing sheep in such large numbers. It was really upsetting."
Mr Doneley said when he took part in the government-subsidised cluster fencing program, it cost between $5,000 and $7,000 in materials per kilometre of fence, but it was likely to cost between $10,000 and $15,000 today.
With five other landholders, Paul Doneley constructed dog-proof 'cluster fencing' to keep his sheep safe from attack. (ABC News: Hannah Walsh)
Even with government funding, he said, dog-proof fencing was still cost-prohibitive for landholders and required adjacent properties to work together.
He said landholders were permitted to kill wild dogs if they found them on their property, but locating them after they had killed stock was often difficult because they were clever animals.
"You might destroy one dog, then there's another couple there. So they're very smart. You just never find them again,"
he said.
He said increasing red tape around the use of poisons and baits meant many landholders were struggling to manage the impact of dogs.
Dingoes arrived on mainland Australia from South-East Asia between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago. (Supplied: Angus Emmott)
Wild dog or dingo?
Ms Takau said she did not believe the term 'wild dog' should be used for dingoes.
According to studies, this is especially evident in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Tully cane farm worker Debbie Murray agrees.
She says they come out of the cane and "toddle" along behind her when she drives the tractor around the farm near Tully.
Debbie Murray says dingo habitat is being destroyed. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick )
"I don't think they are a pest," she said.
"Their homes have been ruined. The trees have been knocked down. Where else are they going to hide?
"They have to have a home somewhere, so if it is going to be in the cane paddock, then it will be in the cane paddock."
Dingo dens are being destroyed as land is cleared for farming. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
'There are better options'
In 2024, Girringun Aboriginal Rangers joined forces with the World Wildlife Fund to form the Eyes on Country monitoring program across its Indigenous Protected Area.
Ranger coordinator Chris Muriata said it was hoped camera traps would help calculate the number of dingoes living across their Country in North Queensland.
Girringun Rangers, such as Chris Muriata, are using cameras to count dingoes moving around on Country. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
"We are looking at setting up a database that we can use for our traditional owners," he said.
"In a lot of the areas, we know dingoes are there. But we are also trying to establish the population and to see if they are travelling between areas."
He said he would like to see more culturally sensitive non-lethal practices for dingo management.
Sonya Takau with dingo pup Billy. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
"We have dances, we have stories, we have connections with them,"
he said.
"We have people named after them, traditional names.
"It's about educating the public why we don't want to go down that lethal method of trapping, or poisoning or hunting them. It's about understanding that there are better options."
Ms Takau said the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation had made headway with some local councils, who had agreed to stop using 1080 bait on public land.