The Victorian Labor government has extended the unprotection laws of dingoes.
This will allow people to trap, poison and shoot dingoes on public and private land until 2028 in Eastern Victoria.
Despite Victoria’s dingo population reaching as little as 3000 animals, leading to fears amongst First Nations groups and dingo advocates that the Australian icons are now on a trajectory to local extinction.
Last year 468 dingoes were killed in Eastern Victoria, that’s nearly 20% of the population, in one year!
We know what this policy will do, we’ve seen it already drive dingoes to functional extinction in the Western part of our state, which now has an estimated population of only 40-230 dingoes.
Even though the Victorian Labor Government knew the population was declining drastically, protection of dingoes in Western Victoria was only brought in earlier this year.
These laws that allow native animals to be killed are put in place in the name of protecting livestock.
Animals that are not native to our country, that destroy our landscape, pollute our air and waterways and contribute vast amounts to our country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
There are millions and millions of cows and sheep in Australia.
We know they are detrimental to the environment and native species.
We need to stop prioritising these imported animals over our iconic, unique native species that are fast becoming in danger of extinction.
