Playing identity politics with dingoes

Playing identity politics with dingoes

The West Australian Government announced that in 2019 they were going to declare the dingo no longer a native Australian species under legislation. It turns out the species status of WA fauna is at the discretion of the Environment Minister. This would mean that they no longer had to develop, maintain and enforce a management plan for the dingo. Given that by multiple criteria the dingo is a native Australian canid, a group of scientists penned a letter to the Minister (find it here), and a few of us wrote an article in the Conversation, outlining why this is not an appropriate action.

These actions seem to have been effective- as the Minister has since reversed their decision, and the dingo will remain native. The dingo is still a declared pest in WA and can be lethally controlled, but they remain their native status.

Smith, B., Ritchie, E., van Eeden, L. (2018). Why the WA government is wrong to play identity politics with dingoes. The Conversation. August 31, 2018.