Don't forget to watch Dave's documentary Sunday 8th December, 7.30pm, ABC1
The dingo is at war. It’s a bloody battle with cats, foxes and each other for precious resources in an unforgiving land. Theirs is an insidious struggle for existence, as their gene pool is diluted by feral dogs. And it’s a constant conflict with man wherever dingoes, livestock and people cross paths. But is the dingo really a villain?
‘Dingo: Wild Dog at War’ follows farmer and canine advocate Dave Graham as he hunts for solutions to the dilemma surrounding Australia’s native canine. As Dave crosses Australia, he learns more about how the dingo fits in the Australian landscape: devastating to landholders; a keystone species in the food web of Australia; a canine caught mid-way in evolution from wolf to dog; and perhaps one of our best chances for preserving an ecosystem faced with an escalating number of native animal extinctions.
Dave meets farmers, scientists, and government researchers with vastly opposing views -- from eradication, to systematic culling, to a natural order where dingoes are left alone. He witnesses the devastation dingoes can inflict on livestock and the role they can play in restoring native habitats. And finally, Dave comes face to face with the animal he’s feared and loathed for most of his life... and finds a surprising connection.
Dingo: Wild Dog At War
As aired on ABC 8/12/2013. The dingo, Australia's native dog, is a lightning rod...