The dingo ... poison or let flourish?
Credit: Karen Johnson
In the vast cattle country to the north, it might be a different story because dingoes aren't as big a threat to cattle. Dingoes don't hunt cattle after the calves are much past two or three weeks old, according to McKechnie. And a 28-year study on three cattle stations in Queensland suggests that dingoes don't even prey heavily on the newborn calves unless their staple prey disappears due to deteriorating conditions like drought.
The same study, co-authored by Lee Allen of the Robert Wicks Research Centre in Queensland, suggests that the aggressive baiting programs used against dingoes may actually be counter-productive for graziers. Allen says that undisturbed dingo packs normally work together to take large prey like kangaroos. When dingoes are removed from an area by baiting, the area is recolonised by younger, solitary animals. These animals aren't capable of going after the large prey, so they turn to calves. In their study, some of the highest rates of calf predation occurred in areas that had been baited.
Not everyone is convinced that the science is valid, however. "Sounds like one of those things that the dingo crowd are likely to say because it fits their argument," says Mark Clifford, general manager of Heytesbury Beef, a firm that manages over 200,000 head of cattle on eight stations in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. "It's obvious if we drop or loosen control on dingoes, we are going to lose more calves."
Johnson argues that more dingoes could mean fewer kangaroos to compete with cattle for food, but Clifford doesn't buy the idea that dingoes will go after kangaroos when calves are around. "A few day-old calf doesn't take much doing to catch; I could run one down myself. I could never run a kangaroo down." Nor is he convinced of dingo's supposed ecological benefits, saying, "I'm not convinced that they manage to catch cats that often. I think they're more likely to catch little marsupials."
Back at Carlton Hill, McKechnie agrees that dingoes kill the wallabies that compete with his cattle for food, but he points out that in his neck of the northern parts of Western Australia, there are no foxes, and not very many cats. He doesn't see how relaxing controls on dingoes in his area will improve the ecological balance - but he knows firsthand the damage the predators will do to his livestock.
Johnson acknowledges the difficulties involved in balancing the stability of Australia's unique wildlife with the needs of one of the continent's largest and most important industries, but sees a need for a change in philosophy on the part of graziers.
"There might be a number of different ways of thinking through dingo management in cattle country," he says. "At the moment, though, that hasn't got through to managers. There's still just one prescription, and that is to bait as widely as possible."
For more information on Chris Johnson's book or to order a copy, visit Cambridge University Press.
Benjamin Lester was an intern at COSMOS who wrote stories for both the print magazine and Cosmos Online. He's a graduate of evolution and ecology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, USA.
