Saskatoon zoo prepares to welcome pair of dingo pups

Dingoes are coming to northern Saskatchewan.

The Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo is getting ready to welcome two dingo pups this spring. They will arrive through a partnership with the Australian Dingo Foundation and the Oakvale Wildlife Park in Australia, according to a news release from the City of Saskatoon.

“We are just making the final arrangements before these pups start their journey to Canada,” said zoo manager Tim Sinclair-Smith.

“This is a great opportunity for us to bring some exciting new animals to Saskatoon, allowing visitors of all ages to meet dingoes, most likely for the first time.

“It is also a great way to enhance our conservation, research, and education opportunities at the zoo.”

The dingo, known as Australia’s wild dog, can roam great distances and communicate with a wolflike howl, living a solitary life or as part of a larger pack, the city said.

Due to inbreeding with domestic and feral dogs brought to Australia by European settlers, these dingoes are “extremely rare,” Sinclair-Smith said. Dingoes eat wallaby, kangaroo and other small game, such as rabbits and rodents.

The animals, which typically weigh around 30 pounds, are naturally lean, with golden yellow coats and white markings on the chest, feet and tails.

The dingo pups will take over the space previously used for the zoo’s wolf enclosure, which is across from the Meerkat House.

The Forestry Farm Park and Zoo is open from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. until the end of April.

Summer hours, starting in May, are from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.