[Previous entry: "Fish and Coral .....................Australia's Ribbon Reefs"] [Next entry: "SEASCAPE Low Tide Coral Reef"]
07/10/2004: "TRAVEL ..........Dingo - Fraser Island"
An Australian dingo in a semi-playful mood. Thirty or so seconds before, this was a different dog, tail curled back, hair down the centre of the spine raised - I was worried out there on the sandhills of Fraser Island with not a big stick of wood or even a rock anywhere to use for defense. Just a couple of cameras.
The dog had spotted me and made a fast trot in a straight line. As with sharks and cameras, if you take plenty of pictures at least the fear inside does not lose control - you are concentrating on photo composition, exposure, number of film frames and so on. All pre digital thoughts of course.
Earlier frames show how it happened. The turning point came when the dog sniffed my scent, (rubbed on a small piece of wood and thrown closer than I dared to venture). He settled down, and I instigated a game of play with a friendly 'growl' with a semi lunge toward him. As a former dog owner you know these things.
This dingo is certainly a healthy and magnificent looking dog on the northern part of the island (the most pure dingo 'strain' known to exist anywhere).
A year later a young child was severely mauled by a dingo on Fraser Island and rangers shot a whole heap of them after major media coverage. Other changes have occured to deter the dogs, such as wire cages for campers to store food overnight. After all, the dogs are always looking for a feed.
