AT the beginning of May, Animals Australia, Australia's leading animal protection organisation, announced its legal team had 'filed proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria on behalf of dingoes being cruelly trapped, poisoned and shot in the state'.
They say that dingoes, despite their status as threatened native animals in Victoria, are being targeted and killed to appease the interests of the animal agriculture industry.
They blame the government's endorsement for a three more year extension of the Unprotection order in place in the east of Victoria calling it an ‘eradication program’ for a unique threatened species saying that unidentified experts have warned that dingoes are 'hurtling towards extinction.'
"We are on the precipice of wiping out another native animal," they said.
"Dingoes are integral to the balance of our ecosystem.
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"We’re suing the Victorian Government – because dingoes deserve better.
"The survival of native dingo populations in Victoria is hanging in the balance – they don’t have three years to spare.
"So, together, we are ensuring they are given a voice."
This comes after months of discussion regarding wild dogs in Mansfield Shire, much of which has focused on booming populations, increased activity on public and private land, the dogs' changed brazen behaviour, and the increased threat to livestock.
Animals Australia did not disclaim the source of their data.
Given the animal protection organisation is looking to removed the state government legislated unprotection order on wild dogs/dingoes statewide, the Mansfield Courier has turned its eyes to the north west of the state where the unprotection order has already been lifted.
In recent days, the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has been calling upon the state government to urgently strengthen wild dog management programs in light of the mounting impact seen in North-West Victoria and where non-lethal controls have failed to protect livestock.
VFF Vice-President Peter Star has said that concerns are growing over potential changes to the dingo unprotection order and that now is not the time for the government to retreat from effective, science-based wild dog management.
“In the North-West, where lethal control methods have been restricted, farmers are already seeing the consequences, more frequent and brazen livestock attacks, increased stock losses, and rising emotional and financial stress,” Mr Star said.
“These are not isolated incidents.
"The lack of effective wild dog control is undermining confidence and doing real damage to rural livelihoods.
"We must not allow this to spread to other parts of the state.
“Our farmers deserve protection.
"The tools exist, we just need the government to use them."
Jade Benham, Nationals Member for Mildura, said the situation in the north west is symptomatic of a Melbourne-centric government whose regional policy rarely represents the views of the regional population.
"A sheep grazier recently called my office to tell me that he is either losing or having to euthanise a third of all the lambs born on his farm after dog attacks see them mauled," she said.
"Non-lethal controls are not working.
"Guardian animals and predator proof fences alone, do not work.
"Graziers in the north west are commonly having to patrol their farms in the dead of the night and despite their best efforts, they are still finding mauled sheep on their land.
"Once they are on private land, it is too late.
"Controls need to be put in place on public land long before they are on farms.
"The three kilometre buffer used to work and we need to go back to managing wild dog numbers where they live and breed, on public land before they are on our farms, killing sheep.
"Poor decisions were made early in Australia's history as a nation and now we have to try and live with them and that means controlling wildlife when a species threatens others.
"We have excellent landcare groups in our region and even they are frustrated at the current situation.
"There was no consultation, no impact studies before the decision was made elsewhere and forced upon us up here.
"It's a city-centric government sacrificing its rural communities to appease city based activists.
"We've been thrown to the dogs and we need the unprotection order back in place so we can go back to managing our environment, responsibly."
While Ms Benham's primary concern is the protection of the communities within her electorate in the north west, she was quite clear that she would vocally oppose the lifting of the unprotection order elsewhere in the state.
"If the unprotection order was lifted in High Country or in Gippsland where the numbers of wild dogs are higher, the results would be catastrophic," she said.
"The north west has campsites lying empty because wild dogs are stalking campers at night and the numbers here are supposedly smaller that elsewhere in the state.
"Children growing up in rural Victoria should not be afraid to be out after dusk."
Bev McArthur, Liberal Member for Western Victoria Region and Shadow Minister for Scrutiny of Government, believes the way the unprotection order was removed in the north-west has severely damaged trust in the government.
"The lifting of the unprotection order followed a period of several years where the control orders were only extended for a single year at a time," she said.
"That short-term, reactive pattern has given farmers no confidence at all that the government intends to maintain long-term, effective wild dog control.
"If anything, the short extensions and politicised review process suggest the opposite, and that in fact control measures may be revoked again at any time.
"In my view, what really worries farmers, and indeed many other regional Victorians, is the ideological pattern behind all this.
"The activist mindset now dominates not just the Minister’s office, but the bureaucracies like DEECA and Parks Victoria.
"They used the same tactics to shut down native timber harvesting, to ban climbing in national parks, to wage war on brumbies, to target the pig industry, and to impose new restrictions on bush user groups.
"There’s a serious and concerted campaign to push people out of nature, based on some obsessive ideological belief in ‘pristine, pre-colonial wilderness’ that excludes humans altogether.
"I’m sure you’ve noticed, these activist groups present the dingo in highly idealised terms, as some pure and noble apex predator that existed in perfect balance with the environment before European settlement.
"This narrative depends on contested claims about the dingo's DNA purity, its status as a separate native species, and its supposed ability to selectively prey on introduced animals.
"These assumptions influence policy discussions, including proposals for reintroduction and restrictions on lethal control, despite ongoing scientific uncertainty about dingo taxonomy, population numbers, and ecological impact."
