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A shocking photo of a dingo lying dead on top of tyre tracks on a beach shows the heartbreaking impact of tourism on Fraser Island.
Queensland‘s tourism board shared a photo of the animal on a beach on the island, also known by its Indigenous title K’gari, surrounded by tyre tracks in the sand with a sign reading 40km/h to the right.
Rangers do not know who killed the animal, and are pleading for public support to track down the culprit.
Ranger Dan Novak said in a statement that drivers and tourists on the island need to be aware of dingoes, which are known locally as wongari, and that retrieving the animal’s body is distressing for the Butchulla Traditional Owners of the land.
A shocking photo of a dingo laying dead on the beach shows the heartbreaking impact of tourism on Fraser Island
‘K’gari is the wongari’s place so we need to give them space, and rangers have installed new signage to remind drivers to be dingo-aware,’ he said.
It’s the 17th known dingo that has been killed by a car on the island since 2000.
World Heritage-listed Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island and home to the purest dingo population in Australia, with an estimated 200 animals on the island.
Queensland Parks and Wildlife rangers have long warned visitors not to feed or interact with them, to walk in groups and to supervise children at all times.
While dingoes are found all over Australia, on the mainland their population is controlled in order to protect sheep farms.
The dingoes on Fraser Island have become too familiar with humans, rangers have said
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However, K’gari is one of the few complete ecosystems in Australia where dingoes are protected.
Councillor George Seymour, the Fraser Coast Mayor, revealed to Daily Mail Australia last year that the local dingoes have lost their fear of humans due to hand-feeding by visitors to the island.
‘We can’t have an attack every month and not expect that a child will die,’ Seymour said.
‘It’s like playing Russian Roulette.’
Dingo attacks had mainly taken place on the eastern side of the island from north to south
Attacks on Fraser Island over the past 20 years had confirmed the tendency for the animal to attack small children, in particular when separated from adults.
Social media comments vary wildly between those who believes humans should be completely banned from Fraser Island, and those who believe the dingoes should be culled or removed.
‘Stop tourists from going to the island, they don’t listen,’ wrote a commenter on Save Fraser Island Dingoes Facebook page.
‘What do they expect, these animals are starving on an island with no food – remove them from the Island,’ wrote another.
If anyone has information about the dingo killed on K’gari, they are urged to contact the Department of Environment and Science on (07) 4127 9150.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
