Another dingo has been put down on Queensland’s K’gari after a number of “high risk” incidents, including biting a woman on a beach.
The attack on an eastern beach on 26 August was the latest in a spate of encounters involving dingoes on the heritage-listed island.
It was the third K’gari dingo to be euthanised this year. Prior to this year there had not been a dingo euthanised on the island since 2019.
The woman involved was treated for scratches on her thigh after the bite from the dingo, which was one of two collared animals that approached her before people nearby came to her aid.
Rangers had tagged the dingo in January and since then had noticed increased behavioural problems including stealing food, persistently approaching people, stalking, circling, lunging, nipping and biting, the department of environment and science said.
The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) consulted with the Butchulla people, the island’s traditional owners, before euthanising the dingo on the weekend, which came after rangers exhausted other options.
These included collaring the animal in July and closing camping areas in August, but the dingo’s “threatening and high risk” interactions with people, including children, continued.
Many of those incidents involved another dingo and the department said it would continue to closely monitor the second animal.
“Euthanising a high-risk dingo is a last resort, but this decision is in line with the Fraser Island dingo conservation and risk management strategy, and part of QPWS’s commitment to ensure the safety of everyone who visits or lives on the island,” the department said.
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The attack is the latest in a string of dangerous encounters on K’gari, formerly known as Fraser Island, including one involving a woman who was bitten on the thigh after collared dingoes stalked a group of adults in mid-August.
In July, a 24-year-old woman was taken to hospital with numerous bites after being attacked by at least three dingoes while jogging on an eastern beach.
One of the dingoes was put down because it had been responsible for other threatening and biting incidents, including one involving a six-year-old girl.
In June, a dingo was euthanised after a string of incidents involving the animal in previous months, including the biting of a seven-year-old boy and a 42-year-old woman.
In early July, an eight-year-old boy was taken to hospital after being bitten and scratched when two dingoes approached his family on an eastern beach.
Despite the growing number of attacks, rangers have rejected calls to cull the dingo population on the island, blaming visitor behaviour for the spike in incidents.
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