‘The dingo menace’: an historic survey on graziers’ management of an Australian carnivore

Abstract

Studies of environmental history provide an important lens through which to analyse our contemporary thinking and practices. Here we consider historic management of the conflict caused by dingo predation on livestock. We present unpublished findings of a comprehensive national survey of graziers’ attitudes, knowledge and interactions with dingoes that was conducted by Professor N.W.G. Macintosh in the 1950s. By analysing the 137 responses from this survey, we sought to determine the factors that shaped graziers’ attitudes and management decisions. The four most popular management methods employed to protect livestock from dingoes were trapping (80%), ground-baiting (68%), fencing (44%), and shooting (34%). Whether a respondent had sheep or not was the strongest determinant of which management methods were used, with sheep graziers less likely to use ground-baiting and shooting and more likely to use trapping and fencing. While some patterns among responses were evident, the study reveals the complex nature of graziers’ experiences with dingoes and suggests that, given the lack of scientific evidence available to them at the time of Macintosh’s survey, their decisions, observations, and attitudes were influenced by contextual factors. We use this analysis to consider how history has shaped contemporary dingo management. While the economic, social and environmental context has changed since Macintosh’s survey over 60 years ago, some historical attitudes and practices surrounding dingoes have endured and attacks on livestock by dingoes continue to be regarded as a major threat to graziers.