Dingo rally tomorrow

A Fraser Island dingo, said to be starving as a result of State Government policies.

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PARTICIPANTS in tomorrow’s “Save the Fraser Island Dingo” rally in Brisbane will have some high profile and even international support.

Busloads of demonstrators will be taken from Maryborough and the Gympie Region, with a pick-up at Gympie’s Gold Nugget truck stop at 7.30am.

However, Save the Fraser Island Dingoes (SFID) secretary Karin Kilpatrick warned yesterday that people wanting to catch one of the chartered buses should book with her on 412 41979, with one bus already full.

Organisers yesterday claimed the support of the late Steve Irwin, his father Bob Irwin and leading Australian canine geneticist Alan Wilton.

Steve Irwin warned, after the fatal mauling of a child visitor to the island, that government culling policies could disrupt pack structure and discipline and make the dingoes more dangerous.

Bob Irwin recently offered his support for the SFID group and Rainbow Beach wildlife photographer Jennifer Parkhurst, currently facing charges alleging she fed island dingoes.

Prof Wilton’s genetic research uncovered alarming news that 80 per cent of Australia’s dingoes are cross bred with domestic dogs, leaving the Fraser Island population as one of the last truly pure genetic reserves for the Australian wolf species.

Prof Wilton told the ABC’s Catalyst program dingoes are going the way of the Thylacine and “unless somebody does something soon we won’t have any left”.

The program said “all hope now falls on one crisis torn island,” adding that few Australians realised the significance of the tiny remaining population.

The island’s indigenous Butchilla people are also strongly supporting the demonstration, as are online petition signatories from all over the world.

The march will start at Emma Miller Place at Roma Street at 10am, moving to Parliament House and Musgrave Park.