For about a year now we have witnessed, around our Fraser Island property, a young male dingo easily recognisable as one of his front legs had a longer white sock than usual. When first noticed he was, I guess you would say, in his prime, thin (as they all are) but healthy looking. Our residence obviously is in his domain as almost daily we would site him in the area.

About three months ago we noticed he was limping, favouring his back right leg. Obviously injured I commented at the time that his life is on borrowed time as this would impede upon his hunting skills. As time went by we saw less of him still with the limp and becoming even thinner.

On our last sighting he had obviously been in a fight with one or more dogs, and being already disabled and in poor condition, he really took a battering. A chunk of flesh was ripped from this emaciated hip region and several other smaller wounds on his shoulder and face. He lay some distance from the house looking at us as we left our property for a period of time.

I know I won’t see him again and I realise with the mating season upon us fighting for the privilege is a way of life for the dingo, however I do have a problem with the way our Department of Environment and Resource Management have a ‘head in the sand’ approach to the dingo’s plight in general. In the past 18 months we have witnessed three other dingo deaths in our region. For part-time residents like ourselves who only frequent the one area on Fraser Island intermittently, this seems excessive considering the number of dingoes left on the island.

Realisation that their natural prey is very scarce now and generally just the humane side of things, authorities should take action now to ensure prolonged existence of the Fraser Island dingo – surely all are now ON BORROWED TIME.