Fears for dingo packs after fire ravages Fraser Island
A fire that has been burning for seven weeks on a protected Queensland island is thought to have destroyed its population of pure-bred dingoes.
The fires on Fraser Island, 320 kilometres north of Brisbane, have been alight since midOctober, when they were started by an illegal campfire.
Satellite photos and flights over the sand island show that much of the north has been burnt, leaving only a narrow land passage for wildlife fleeing south to escape the flames.
Cheryl Bryant, of Save Fraser Island Dingoes, said: ‘‘When you went north, it was really black and the earth was pretty charred. So we are worried about how many (dingoes) could have survived and, for those that
did survive, how they’re going to compete for food.’’
The dingoes are territorial and have formed about 25 packs. When territories are breached, adult dingoes attack the young of
the invaders. ‘‘If we lose the puppies, we can’t be sure we’ll get this generation back,’’ Bryant said.
Fraser Island is also home to more than 30 mammal species, including squirrel gliders, wallabies, bandicoots and bats, 60 reptile species, and 17 types of frog.
Christine Hosking, from the University of Queensland, said: ‘‘The smaller animals, the insects that feed the birds, the echidnas and the other small animals that are on the island, are really going to suffer. If they don’t get burnt outright in the fires, then of course they lose their food sources, so a lot of them will starve.’’
There has been criticism of efforts to control the fire in its early stages. Water bombing did not start until November 14, a month after the fire started.
Steve Knight, one of the island’s 180 residents, told the ABC: ‘‘I don’t think anyone thought this one would get to where it is now – and in fact, I’m really annoyed that they didn’t pile the resources they’re applying to it now to it much earlier.’’
Queensland’s National Parks Service struggled to contain the fires for a month before handing over to the much larger state fire service when the flames were out of control.
Every year half a million people are drawn to Fraser Island’s lakes, dunes and 1000year-old giant satinay trees as well as the dingoes.
In 1770, when British explorer James Cook sailed past the island in darkness, he saw fires lit by the Aboriginal inhabitants. Grahame Applegate, a specialist in tropical forests at the University of the Sunshine Coast, said a return to those methods, which burn off vegetation with frequent, smaller and less intense fires, was the key to managing the wildfire risk in future.