Wild dogs and dingoes

Background

Dingoes were introduced into Australia about 4000 years ago. At European settlement, dingoes were widespread in South Australia and they still roam freely across vast northern areas of the state.

There are purebred dingoes in the south of the state, and interbreeding between dingoes and domestic dogs has resulted in hybrid (part-bred) dingoes. In this area, dingoes, hybrids, and wild domestic dogs are all called ‘wild dogs’.

The Dog Fence

In 1946, the Dog Fence was constructed in South Australia to keep wild dogs out of sheep grazing areas. It protects the sheep industry, which is at greatest risk of wild dog attacks.

Managing wild dogs and dingoes depends on their location relative to the fence:

  • inside (south of) the Dog Fence, wild dogs are a pest declared for destruction
  • outside (north of) the Dog Fence, dingoes are listed as unprotected native wildlife, valued for their cultural and ecological roles.

Impacts

Managing wild dogs is essential for South Australia’s livestock industries, as grazing sheep is impossible where wild dogs are present.

Wild dogs often kill more than they eat because they enjoy chasing, maiming and killing livestock. They can also:

  • spread disease
  • kill domestic pets.

Many landholders suffer emotional and psychological trauma, in addition to severe financial losses, when livestock are attacked by wild dogs.

Outside of the Dog Fence, dingoes are only controlled when they impact the pastoral cattle industry and human safety. Their ecological role in those systems includes:

  • preying on native and non-native animals, such as kangaroos, wombats and rabbits
  • mediating populations of some overabundant species, such as kangaroos.

Government support programs

South Australian pastoralists and their regional communities have been severely affected by drought. Wild dogs in these regions cause injury and death to livestock, with a national impact of $90 million per year.

The SA Government has responded to the problem of wild dogs by introducing these programs:

In addition, the $21 million drought support package includes:

  • adding an additional full-time wild dog trapper
  • investing further into the wild dog baiting program
  • a bounty scheme, where drought affected landholders can recover $120 per wild dog.

Managing wild dogs

Inside the Dog Fence, landholders are required to control dogs on their properties under the Landscape South Australia Act 2019.

Owners of the Dog Fence must also destroy wild dogs in the vicinity of the fence under the Dog Fence Act 1946.

Wild dogs can be controlled by:

To discuss control options, contact your local landscape board.

SA Wild Dog Management Strategy 2023–2033

The South Australian Wild Dog Management Strategy 2023–2033 will guide wild dog management. It's aim is to sustain and grow South Australian livestock industries by protecting them from the impacts of wild dogs, while maintaining dingo populations outside the dog fence.

View the Wild Dog Management Strategy

Wild dog baiting requirements

Baiting may be a legal requirement, based on your location and the impacts of wild dogs that you are experiencing.

Use our online tool to determine your course of action.

Baiting requirements tool

Keeping dingoes

It is illegal to keep a dingo or part-dingo as a pet inside the Dog Fence in South Australia, unless you have a permit.

If your dog looks like a dingo or hybrid dingo, the legislation in South Australia treats it as a dingo or hybrid dingo. However, there are known breeds that may look like a dingo.

It is the dog owner's responsibility to prove the dog is not a dingo by getting a DNA breed test. A breed certificate will only be accepted from a company that can test DNA for dingoes.

Permits may be granted for dingoes inside the Dog Fence for:

  • research and development
  • coordinated captive breeding
  • conservation purposes
  • public education.

Generally, permits are only granted to high security zoos and research facilities, which meet strict criteria for containing dingoes.

Report wild dogs

WildDogScan provides a tool for reporting wild dog sightings, management activities undertaken, and photos of the impacts of wild dogs.

The information is used to identify practical solutions and for coordinated control of wild dogs.

How to report an established pest animal

If you see an established pest animal, we want to hear about it!

Report sightings via the Feral Scan website or app.

FeralScan
Page last reviewed: 05 Sep 2023

 


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