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This article was published in 1953
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INSTITUTE OF INSPECTORS OF STOCK OF N.S.W. YEAR BOOK.
THE DINGO PROBLEM
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE LOWER NORTH COAST AND TABLELANDS DINGO DESTRUCTION BOARD DISTRICT
DON WALKER. B.V.Sc., Inspector of Stock, Armidale.
The Early Days.
Dingoes have been recognised, for many years, as a threat to the livestock industry in this part of the world. Records show that for the past seven years the annual kill of dogs paid for has been relatively stable. It was decided, therefore, to find out as much as possible about the whole problem. This article is the result.
The writer does not claim to be an authority on the subject— the reverse is the case. Information has been gleaned from many varied sources.
An effort has been made to collect facts as statistical data and information of a more general nature—anything which might give a lead as to the true picture. Interpretation of data is most difficult as all figures are based on records of scalp bonus payments, at varying rates. Further, the pound of fifty years ago was a vastly different proposition from the pound of to-day and the intervening years till the present time. Even such facts as the total rural population are of importance since the more humans there are per square hundred miles the less chance native dogs have of survival.
During the past eighty to ninety years there has been a continuous effort to reduce or control the native dog population. The official effort has been almost exclusively through the medium of bonus payment on scalps. In the Armidale P.P. District, then the Armidale Sheep District, in 1882 a bonus of 10/- per head was paid on 288 native dogs, and for the same year in the Tamworth Sheep District the financial estimate provided for a bonus on 2,000 native dogs at £1 per head.
In 1903 the Pastures Protection Boards were first established. Native Dog or Dingo Destruction Associations were already in existence and were so located that the whole of the Armidale P.P. District was covered by their activities. Dingoes were then a menace as we hardly know it to-day, for in one year Rockvale Station lost 2,000 sheep from their depredations in the period January to September.
The bonus rate paid by the Board was by way of subsidy. £2 for dogs and £1 for pups; where local Dingo Destruction Associations paid half these amounts. Otherwise the Board paid a bonus of 7/6d. As was to be expected, very few dogs were paid for at this rate.
As there were so few rabbits, the Stock Inspector was then acting also as Rabbit Inspector.
At the end of 1904 the dingo apparently was coming under control in the more accessible country. The district was divided into two areas. North and West of a line from Danglemah, thence by the railway to Walcha Road, thence to Walcha and thence North-easterly to the district boundary was lightly infested; South and South-east of it heavily infested.
Dingoes were not the only pest. At this time there was growing uneasiness regarding rabbits. Reports of meetings showed an increasing realisation of the calamity which had befallen the grazing industry. There were heroic efforts in fencing, in harbour destruction and in talk; and then a lapse into submission. At no time was an official bonus paid on them. Hares at threepence (3d.) per head reached a total of 137,000 scalps in the year 1905.
Kangaroo rats also were regarded as pests, and one has no doubt they were. A bonus of twopence (2d.) per head was paid on these. There was a bonus of one penny (1d.) and twopence (2d.) per head on Rock Wallabies and Scrub Wallabies, respectively. The rate of payments apparently did not vary over the years. Rock Wallabies and Kangaroo Rats are so close to extinction that they may be seen now only in zoos. The yearly tallies for each of these are shown in Appendix "A".
It is considered of importance to give this information, for these native animals, both alive and dead, provided a continuing feast for the dingo population of these days. The almost complete eradication of some types of native game and marked reduction of other types, cleanng of timber and intensification of settlement rapidly made the country described above as lightly infested, quite untenable for them.
From 1903 to 1945 each of the three Pasture Protection Districts, Gloucester, Port Macquarie and Armidale, had sole control of the problem in their respective areas.
Present Administration.
From 1946 onward the Lower North Coast and Tablelands Dingo Destruction Board was set up and became the authority responsible for dingo control in those parts of these districts which were declared to be infested.
In the Port Macquarie District, with a total area of 2,432,000 acres, 932,600 acres have been declared. In Gloucester District, with a total area of 1,920,000 acres, 1,031,300 acres have been declared. In Armidale District, with a total area of 4,868,000 acres, 1,625,900 acres have been declared.
213,000 acres of the Tamworth District and 139,500 acres of the Upper Hunter District also have been declared dingo infested. The areas declared are but a small proportion of the total area of each of these districts. For the purposes of considering the overall problem the whole of the area in these two Districts has been omitted from calculation and further consideration because, over a five year period, no pups and twenty-two dogs were killed in the Tamworth District and only two pups and eighty-two dogs in the Upper Hunter. These were merely overflow from the breeding areas of the other three districts.
Contributions to funds of the Dingo Board are levied on each Board on the basis of the total area declared infested and the amount required is levied from the whole of the stockowners of each Board. Each year the Government has contributed to the funds though Boards consider the amount to be out of proportion to the areas of land held by the Crown, mainly as forests and unoccupied lands.
Payment of scalp bonuses has been the rule. The rate of payment has varied widely from about £4/5/- to 30/- for dogs, proportionately less for pups, with subsidy by local groups; bringing total payment up to about £12 in certain localities. Individual dogs, known as bad killers, are alleged to have had a price running into hundreds of pounds on their heads, but these always have been individuals ravaging sheep flocks.
In addition, the wages of hunters, generally referred to as trappers, have been subsidised by the Dingo Board since 1946.
The Dingo and Diet.
The native dog of to-day is a somewhat different animal from the original. The infusion of domestic strains has altered the average colour, if one may speak of "averaging" such a variable feature in the present day strain. The prick ears and bushy tail remain constant features. It will be interesting to observe the result of the continued infusion of domestic breeds into the native animal.
Diet consists of anything and everything which contains nutriment. It ranges from native game and rabbits, includes such small fry as lizards and beetles,etc., to carrion of all types, including bones. There is little doubt that birds such as the Brush Turkey and Lyre Bird, at times, fall prey to them. Dogs will return continually to an old carcase; chewing at hide and bones.
Breeding and Survival.
Though the domesticated bitch normally breeds twice yearly, the dingo slut possibly breeds less frequently. Records of bonus payments on pup scalps indicate that late winter is the usual time for pups to be whelped.
Sluts carry an average of five or six pups. They are whelped usually in less accessible country—in hollow logs and similar cover. It has been observed that they were inside the frame of a dead beast—a clear case of bed and breakfast. A frequent locality is in "black scrubs"—small patches of dense rain-forest.
Mr. R. A. Patten. Curator of the Taronga Park Zoo, in a private communication, states that under captive conditions the average whelp is five to six and that males always predominate; the average ratio being in the vicinity of two males to one female. No official records are available concerning the ratio in the natural, wild state but there is evidence that this ratio persists in the wild to adult stages.
When pups are about three to four months old and developing dog-hair, the slut moves with them to inside country where food supply is more plentiful. At this time it appears that the size of the litter is usually down to two or three. While still sucking and / or with the slut killing for them still, pups are almost invariably quite fat. No explanation has been found for the apparent reduction from five or six to two or three. The observations may not be sufficiently accurate. If they are, it would be of considerable interest to know what has happened to the missing pups.
Survival after weaning is considered to be the most important feature in the effective reproduction of the species. Though generally "prime" at weaning, from then on there is a rapid loss of condition; to the stage of emaciation.
Examination of droppings shows that hard shelled insects are prominent on the menu of pups. There is no doubt that clumsy pups are unable to kill much for themselves. A high percentage population of adults would be presumed to leave little of what is killed for pups to feed on, and it is presumed that starvation is the main factor operating to reduce numbers.
The lower ratio of pups to adults taken in the Armidale P.P. District, as compared with the Kempsey and Gloucester Districts, may be additional evidence that food supply is a major factor in survival of pups. The portions of the Armidale District which are dingo infested are generally colder, more heavily timbered, steeper and carry less "pup tucker" than the other districts referred to. See Appendix "B".
The difference in ratios probably is due also to greater intensity of effort in destroying them and young dogs move or are hunted from more heavily infested country by older dogs to less populated areas.
Against suggestions that pups actually die of starvation is the fact that the writer has been unable to find anybody who actually has seen pups dead or on the point of death from starvation. At this stage they may hide and so offer little chance of being found. Mr. Patten has drawn attention to the fact that in captivity pups all suffer from rickets unless they receive a well balanced diet and that rickets, in its worst form, can almost immobilise pups at a time when they would have to forage for themselves.
In seasons when "pup tucker" is scarce it is quite probable that starvation in this form is the cause of heavy mortality. No information has been found concerning the Vitamin D content of hard-shelled insects, lizards or carrion. Further, it is worth noting that pups are well furred, a severe handicap to synthesis of Vitamin D through sunlight. In pups, otherwise starving, there would be a dry coat through little sebaceous secretion, which would be irradiated by sunlight and ingested by licking the coat.
If some factor does not kill pups, then the breeding rate of sluts, as will be shown later, must be unbelievably low.
Predators certainly kill pups. Wedgetailed eagles are probably a control, and it is understood that at least one hunter is successful in ascertaining the whereabouts of dogs by observing the behaviour of these birds from vantage points. Weak pups clear of the sanctuary of timber and young pups playing around the nest would be easy prey for them.
It has been suggested that large bush goannas take some, but no evidence whatever has been found to support it. In fact, opinions are against it.
Parasites
The effect of parasites is considered to be negligible. Possible parasites are the Bush Tick (Ixodes holocyclus), worms and the tapeworm stage of hydatids of cattle. The Bush Tick is considered to be of rather minor importance because the dingo populations appear to be heaviest in those areas where the tick is also most prevalent. The ratio of pups to adult dogs taken in the different districts is further evidence, flimsy it is true, that tick is of little consequence.
The common hookworm of domestic dogs has been recorded in a dingo but no evidence that this parasite is a controlling factor is available.
The hydatid worm, Taenia echinococcus, most probably infests dingoes in the three districts but again no local evidence is available. It is worth noting that young dogs, experimentally infested very heavily, showed no effects from this parasite and unless these are of importance when coupled with a starvation ration, they also may be dismissed as being of no significance.
Population and Reproductive Rate.
The total dingo population is a question which always fascinates. There would appear to be no way of arriving at a reasonably accurate estimate.
From Table 2 it will be seen that the population is reasonably stable—or rather that the number killed each year, with the bonus at the same rate over most of the period, has been stable. Since a total of 1,035 pups and adults are killed each year in the ratio of 1 pup to each 6 adults, the total population is assumed on this basis to be about 6,000. This would assume that the same proportion of pups to adults is destroyed as actually occurs in ihe population. A basis such as this may lead to grave error, for the ratio of pups to adults in Armidale District 1-12, Port Macquarie District 1-4.7, and Gloucester District 1-5.2, but this is to be expected; the Port Macquarie and Gloucester districts being recognised as main breeding areas.
Two main sources of error exist:—
(1) A "pup" is an indefinite term and many scalps are accepted which in fact, are merely older pups. A correction on this score would, of course, require writing down the figure arrived at for total population.
(2) No allowance is made for the number killed, the scalps of which are not presented. Strychnine to the average value of £45 annually has been distributed free by the Dingo Board each year. Used in whole carcases it is applied most liberally, not at all in the most heavily infested areas, and spread over about five million acres; but some doubtless used also for rabbit baits. Consequently it is considered that those killed in this way, the scalps not being recovered, would not affect materially the reliability of the figures.
Examination of an assumed population of the order of 6,000 gives a story of this nature; assuming males to females are in the ratio of 2 to 1:—
There would be 2,000 females with a life expectancy of, say, six years; i.e., 1,650 females of breeding age, the remainder under 1 year old.
Under the hard conditions of living it is possible and probable that or the average sluts breed about every second year. Some graziers in dingo infested country support this suggestion.
We then must assume that from about 825 sluts some 1,000 pups survive to one year: an effective reproduction rate of approximately 1.2 per head. In addition, some reproduction would be necessary for replacements due to death from natural causes, but of such deaths we have no evidence.
If such a position is untenable because of either the low reproduction rate or the frequency of breeding or the rates of males to females, then the total population must be proportionately less for each of the individual assumptions which may be incorrect.
A total of 500 females of breeding age, with an effective reproductive rate of three per year and sexes assumed to be in equal proportion and with 1,000 killed off each year, would build, at the end of five years, to a population of approximately 33,000. A calculation such as this proves most conclusively that some biological control operates most effectively in our favour; otherwise in little more than five years they would be as numerous as rabbits on a rabbit farm. On the scanty evidence available it is concluded that the total population is of the order of 6,000.
There are some grounds for believing that, if no bonus were paid on scalps and dingoes destroyed by human effort, other than those which were killing stock, the dingo population would increase only to a point where its food supply fully governed the population. This number may not be greatly in excess of the present population. However, stimulating stockowners and others to destroy dingoes is not considered wasted effort. Reduction of the average age and keeping the numbers within the level which the food supply can support adequately assists greatly in protecting stock.
Distribution.
In an effort to obtain a clearer picture of the distribution, all scalp certificates for the years 1950 and 1951 were examined. All figures stated are averages. Each year 938 dogs and pups were destroyed. In the Gloucester district, out of 415 destroyed in 52 parishes, 258 were from 15 parishes. In Port Macquarie District 283 were taken in 50 parishes and of these 153 were from 13 parishes. In Armidale 221 were taken from 56 parishes; of these 61 being from 4 parishes.
This indicates that the heaviest infestations occur in a localised way but does not give really a true picture of the position. The fact is that dingoes are killed mainly in localities where settlement is closer; the dogs breeding and living, for the most part, in surrounding areas.
Two main points of practical importance arise from examination of a "spotted" map. The first is that the population is most dense in certain localities and these appear to be favoured ior breeding. The second, that data stated as by P.P. Districts is almost misleading. The problem should be viewed over the whole of the Dingo Board area and without regard to the more or less artificial boundaries of the P.P. District.
Effect on Fauna.
Comparatively little has been gleaned concerning the effect of dingoes on native fauna. There is no doubt that they assist to keep the numbers of wallabies and wallaroos within reasonable limits. It generally is understood that inside the dog-proof fences kangaroos are much more numerous than outside, but here again food supply is a factor to be taken into consideration. The question arises whether it is cheaper to run dingoes to control marsupials or to do it with firearms; one thinks the dingo loses, but this may be wrong.
The lyre bird and the near extinct kangaroo rat, rock wallaby and brush turkey doubtless are being suppressed further by the dingo in its search for food. No doubt foxes are assisting ably.
Other Dingo Destruction Board Areas.
The history of the first Dingo Board—the Southern Tablelands Dingo Destruction Board—is of interest. Unfortunately, the writer is not in a position to tell its story. However, it is one of success. The present position is that about ten dingoes are killed there each year at a cost of about £400 per head.
The Pilliga Scrub and North West Dingo Destruction Board's story is one of complete success. From its most co-operative Secretary, Mr. P. H. Hulbert. one was fortunate to obtain the details, which are as follows:—
Prior to the Board's operations some landholders within the area could not run sheep at all but at the end of six years of operation, it appears the dingo not only has been controlled but there is considerable evidence that it has been eradicated.
The area proclaimed as dingo infested was about one and three-quarter million acres; about half a million of this being unoccupied Crown land, i.e. Pilliga State Forest. The area is scrubby country, the strongholds of the dogs being the State Forest timbered with pine and Brigalow scrub. The Forest supports a most sparse animal population, watering places are well known.
In these circumstances the logical plan of intensive poisoning was adopted. Large baits or whole carcases were placed on water supplies, though varied types of baits were used. The poisoning was carried out through the whole year; each year extensively in mid-winter and mid-summer. Doggers were paid scalp bonuses, though their main employment was in laying of poison. The bonus at the outset was £6 per head and now is £10.
In the first year, 1946-47, a total of 31 dingoes were paid for half of these being pups. It is of special interest to note that in the succeeding five years only two pups, in 1948-49, were presented for bonus.
In 1947-48, eleven dingoes were paid for and in succeeding years, 6, 1, 4, nil and to date (16/2/53) in the current year no more have come to hand.
It is certain that in the first years of operation large numbers of dingoes were killed by poisoning and the scalps not recovered.
Cost per dog on the basis of scalps paid for was approximately £30, £64, £135, £171 and £55; and in the last year no dogs destroyed against an administrative expenditure of £107.
The whole of the area in which the dingo really harboured was dingo fenced on one side only for 58 miles; erected in 1937-38, at a cost of £11,244. Had this Dingo Board been in existence prior to the erection of the fence, this cost to the country could have been saved.
This was an area where total eradication obviously was possible and desirable because there was no risk of re-infestation.
Most of the dogs were poisoned, some were trapped; but it is of interest to note that Mr. Hulbert is of the opinion that poisoning alone would have done the job.
The Barrier Fence.
No reference to the dingo problem of the Lower North Coast and Tablelands area would be complete without reference to the dingo fence. It is approximately 370 miles long, extending continuously from Glenrock in the south to Wongwabinda in the north. Still further northward it extends, outside the Dingo Board area, to the Queensland Border, but is broken by long gaps.
Though 370 miles long, it joins two points about 100 miles apart in a straight line. It is thus far more crooked than the proverbial dog's hind leg. To erect it to-day would cost in the vicinity of £260,000. It was constructed entirely by private enterprise, aiming to run sheep which would otherwise have become "dog tucker". No subsidy or financial assistance, other than low interest loans in the dim past, was contributed.
As must be expected, the condition of such a fence varies widely in different parts. Some has been renewed, some very old. It is subject to damage by flooding, falling timber and the onslaught of rushing mobs of kangaroos and wallaroos. Wombats tear holes under and through it and the spiny ant eater lifts it from the ground. Timber getters have been known to open such a fence by driving crawler tractors through it. Fences prove ineffective through lack of maintenance, excessive damage or pressure of dingo population.
Should the fence prove insufficient protection to enable sheep to be run without excessive losses, the owner of land adjoining the fence "goes out of sheep" and runs cattle, which are subject to lesser losses.
This gives an indication of how about 100 sheepowners alongside dingo infested country regard the pest, especially when it is taken into account that the protection is not absolute.
Cattle owners in general, on the other hand, show a relative tolerance to the pest. This is due, in large part, to the fact that losses are sporadic and that more effective control is considered both uneconomic and impossible. A careful study of the effect on the cattle population, especially as regards calves, may not be so reassuring and would assist in determining the economics of the overall problem.
Methods of Destruction.
Shooting is largely opportunist. It offers no solution.
Trapping, in skilled hands, is efficient, especially where one or two known dogs are sought. It is considered to be wasteful of labour but, from the hunter's point of view, has the advantage of providing the trophy of the chase, and the collection of the bonus.
On general principles, poisoning appears to be the method which should give best chances of success for "wholesale" destruction as compared with the "piecemeal" methods of shooting and trapping.
Reports indicate that poisoning is unreliable on account of the fact that dingoes fail to take baits. They may not be hungry, may be shy of human scent remaining on or near baits or may feed largely according to the mood of the moment.
The bait almost invariably takes the form of the whole carcase of a wallaby or other marsupial, old horses and cattle found dead or destroyed on account of disease or old age. These generally are poisoned with about one-quarter to half an ounce of strychnine sulphate poured into incisions in the flesh. Such baits are alleged to remain effective for up to three or four months under favourable weather conditions.
Marked preference is given to individual types of baits. Some favour one type almost to the total exclusion of others. Bones, fat, tinned fish, hide and salted beef brisket treated with fish oil are all used.
Baiting from aircraft has been to the fore of late. It has the disadvantage of relatively indiscriminate placing of baits but makes it possible to cover areas which are particularly inaccessible. At present these areas do not appear to be our major problem.
Weight is a factor. If large baits of 20-40 lbs. are used, weight appears, at first sight, to be a considerable difficulty. However, small aircraft can distribute up to about 50 tons of superphosphate in one day and distances to be covered are not great if working from a number of points. Aircraft cannot be dismissed lightly as a means of distributing poisoned baits quickly and economically. Probably the most satisfactory time to have poison out is all the time. The following points are to be considered: Baits last longer in winter; in summer, pups are weaned and hungry and they are more susceptible then than when adult; in winter dingoes are on the move more, are more active, mating and with better appetites. In good seasons all dogs tend to be more hungry. Game is strong, with plenty of cover, and there is a shortage of carrion.
For a poison, strychnine sulphate is used exclusively and, in spite of its bitterness, is satisfactory. It is understood that strychnine oleate is far less bitter and for that reason may prove more satisfactory. On the other hand no evidence is available which indicates that the bitterness is in any way responsible for failure of dingoes to eat the bait.
Sodium cyanide is unsatisfactory since it breaks down fairly rapidly, leaving caustic soda alone after a week or two; the prussic acid being volatile.
Mr. I. L. T. Johnstone, Officer-in-chargc of the C.S.I.R.O. Chiswick Field Station at Armidale, has informed the writer that sodium fluoroacetate is used in America in coyote control. It is used only in official hands, in officially conducted baiting stations. Its toxicity is so high that it is entirely unsafe for use by landholders.
No information is available concerning the possible advantages of dicoumarin, the active principle of "Warfarin" and "Ratsak", two proprietary rat-poisons. The effects of this drug are cumulative. The difficulty probably would be to ensure that dingoes returned to the bait to continue feeding unless the ingestion of lethal doses at one feed could be assured.
Availability of bait material is a problem. Bones from slaughtering establishments are a potential source of cheap, long-lasting baits which have the advantage that no quantity of quickly wasting weight is to be transported. They can be cut in two transversely and a quantity of strychnine, a sublethal dose for cattle, possibly 10-30 grains, inserted within the marrow of each. They would be less dangerous to stockmen's dogs than meatier baits.
Such baits could be prepared under supervision, transported by packhorse from various centres and distributed cheaply. Dropped along watercourses and tracks elsewhere, these would have repeated chances of doing the work.
Poisoning is not popular for two reasons, apart from its alleged variable efficiency. The first is the risk of poisoning stockmen's dogs; the second, the scalp may not and probably is not collected, for after taking a bait a dog may travel for some miles before dying. Movement for very short distances often gives a hunter very little chance of recovering the carcase.
Such a measure would have the additional benefit of reducing fox numbers and thereby assist in preserving native fauna which are in danger of destruction within the area.
The Future.
Two outstanding facts call for a review of the position. Over the past seven years the total population apparently was not reduced progressively and in the Armidale P.P. District, with one-third of the area dingo infested, the annual kill now is three-fifths of what it was forty or fifty years ago when the whole area was infested.
One well might ask what further or different should be done. The following measures seem worthy of consideration:
(1) In the most heavily infested areas official poisoning campaigns could be carried out. The immediate and only objection would be the risk of poisoning domestic dogs. To that the obvious answer is that occupiers of infested lands apparently are failing in their legal obligation to destroy the pest; that holders of clean country and those who deal effectively with the pest in lightly infested areas cannot be expected to subsidise mere pruning for an indeftnite period if more effective control can be achieved at no greater cost.
(2) Further information seems essential if the problem is to be understood properly. Much data may be collected by making provision of it part of the price of securing the scalp bonus. Specific information which would be of value is—
(a) The age of the dingo. This would be an estimate only, but would be of value in determining whether numbers were rising or diminishing, in arriving far more accurately at the rate of reproduction and in assessing the effect of biological controls.
(b) The sex of the dingo destroyed, at birth and in different age groups, would be of assistance in determining the relative values which should be placed on scalps.
(c) There appears to be little known accurately concerning the proportion killed by various methods. This would be a way to secure some information on that point.
(d) Information concerning whether the animal was fat, starving, milking, pregnant, diseased, injured,etc., may be pointers to factors as yet, perhaps, not even suspected.
(3) Consideration could be given to ceasing to pay a bonus on scalps. This certainly should receive serious consideration if more effective administrative control measures than those at present in use could be found. The scalp bonus system failed with rabbits, was unnecessary and apparently ineffective with marsupials and failed with hares. It is a qualified success at best in dingo control. It is certain that to effect a progressive reduction in dingoes through bonus incentive, a progressively increasing bonus rate would be necessary, and that rate taking into account variations in the value of currency.
The system of scalp bonuses is established so thoroughly in the minds of landholders that any move to abandon it would require considerable courage. Even amendment of it would require careful consideration and introduction, with suitable publicity. Since the evidence available indicates that sluts breed less often than annually and that the sex ratio at birth is two males to one female, the scalp bonus when paid should be at least four times higher for sluts than for dogs. Since the chance of a slut finding a mate is always good, no matter how low the dog population falls (within limits) the difference in rate could be justifiably still higher, but somebody is sure to point out the difficulty of selective killing of females. The answer to this is known only in a very limited way.
The problem is also an economic one. On one hand is the loss due to the pest, such as time spent in destroying them, the erection and maintenance of dog-proof fencing, death of stock, country denied to more profitable use and even the insecurity due to the continuing threat. This recurs annually. No estimate of this total has ever been made, so far as is known.
On this depends the lengths to which the Dingo Board should go in suppressing the pest. It may be proper merely to reduce numbers to lessen stock losses. Depending on efficiency of methods in reducing numbers, it may be more proper to seek the degree of control which results from the goal of eradication. In the long term, to the Dingo Board alone, the continuing steady expenditure may prove far more expensive than the immediate heavy cost of short term reduction to a low level. All such consideration; also must take into account for this Dingo Board District the more heavily infested areas to the north and the country to the south, which also is infested.
Conclusion.
Much of what has been written is controversial. If more information is brought to light, proving or disproving any suggestions or assertions, this article will have served a useful purpose.
Acknowledgments.
I am indebted to many for assistance and information: to Mr. Robert A. Patten, Curator of the Taronga Zoological Park; Mr. A. P. O'Farrell, Deputy Warden of the New England University College and in charge of the Biology Section of the College; to Mr. P. H. Hulbert, Secretary of the Pilliga Scrub and North West Dingo Destruction Board; to Mr. Alan Ford, Secretary of the Armidale P.P. Board; to the Dingo Board, for access to its records; and to Board Directors and Graziers of the Armidale District who answered many apparently pointless and futile questions.
APPENDIX "A"
NUMBERS OF ANIMALS DESTROYED ON WHICH SCALP BONUSES WERE PAID
| 1904 | 1905 | 1906 | 1907 | 1908 | 1909 | 1910 | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hares | 64,000 | 137,000 | a | 88,500 | 109,000 | 92,000 | 84,725 | 71,266 | 68,900 | 41,000 | 26,725(c) |
| Kangaroo Rats | 5,233 | 11,000 | a | 13,125 | 20,000 | 19,700 | 16,300 | 13,500 | 7,631 | 1,617(c) | |
| Rock Wallabies | 26,000 | 35,000 | b | b | 18,500 | 41,800 | 58,000 | 49,200 | 49,750 | 15,600(c) | |
| Scrub Wallabies | 10,000 | 19,286 | b | b | |||||||
| Foxes |
(a) No figures located.
(b) No bonus paid on wallabies.
(c) Last recorded year for bonus on this animal.
APPENDIX "B"
NUMBERS OF NATIVE DOG SCALPS UPON WHICH BONUSES WERE PAID BY THE LOWER NORTH COAST AND TABLELANDS DINGO DESTRUCTION BOARD ACCORDING TO THE DISTRICTS IN WHICH DESTRUCTION TOOK PLACE. FIGURES FOR YEAR ENDING 31st DECEMBER.
| Armidale | Gloucester | Port Macquarie | Tamworth | Upper Hunter | Totals | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dogs | Pups | Dogs | Pups | Dogs | Pups | Dogs | Pups | Dogs | Pups | Dogs | Pups | ||
| 1947 | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | 851 | 159 | 1,010 |
| 1948 | 284 | 24 | 364 | 85 | 260 | 59 | 14 | nil | 9 | 2 | 931 | 170 | 1,101 |
| 1949 | 284 | 13 | 370 | 80 | 229 | 51 | 4 | nil | 20 | nil | 907 | 144 | 1,051 |
| 1950 | 207 | 31 | 332 | 91 | 213 | 45 | 1 | nil | 14 | nil | 765 | 167 | 932 |
| 1951 | 188 | 16 | 358 | 49 | 276 | 32 | 2 | nil | 24 | nil | 848 | 97 | 945 |
| 1952 | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | (a) | 946 | 144 | 1,090 |
(a) Figures not readily available.
APPENDIX "C"
NUMBER OF NATIVE DOGS UPON THE SCALPS OF WHICH BONUSES WERE PAID — YEARS 1904 TO 1952
| Year | Dogs | Pups | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1904 | 318 | 55(a) | (a) Bonus rate £2 and £1 for dogs and pups respectively, when paid £1 and 10/- by Native Dog Destruction Associations; otherwise 7/6d. Very few paid for at lower rate. |
| 1905 | 609 | 24 | |
| 1906 | (b) | (b) No figures available. | |
| 1907 | 366 | 34 | |
| 1908 | 408 | 29(c) | (c) A feature noted in this year was the large number of people submitting claims for bonuses; a high proportion being of the same surnames as those submitting claims and occupying land in this district at the present time. |
| 1909 | 328 | 24 | |
| 1910 | 403 | 18 | |
| 1911 | 432 | 38 | |
| 1912 | 411 | 73 | |
| 1913 | 430 | 61 | |
| 1914 | 409 | 62 | |
| 1915 | 398 | - | dogs and pups combined. |
| 1916 | 475 | 33(d) | (d) Bonus rate at 15/- and 7/6d. for dogs and pups respectively. |
| 1917 to 1943 | All bonus payments recorded as lump sum paid on dingoes, crows, foxes, eaglehawks and wombats. | ||
| 1944 | 185 | 20(e) | (e) Bonus rate 15/- and 10/-; dogs and pups respectively. |
| 1945 | 568 | 47(f) | (f) Scalp bonus at rate of £4/5/- and £2 for dogs and pups respectively. Payments caused financial embarrassment to the Armidale P.P. Board. It was established beyond doubt that scalps were taken in adjoining districts where bonus rates were much lower. |
| 1946 | 216 | 35(g) | (g) Bonus rate £2/2/6 and £1 on dogs and pups respectively. |
| 1947 to 1952 | As set out in Appendix "B". |
Throughout the whole of the period Native Dog Destruction Associations have operated in various localities and at various times; paying a local scalp bonus in addition to that paid by the P.P. Board.