Meet 5 new dingo puppies born at the Australian Reptile Park
THE AUSTRALIAN REPTILE Park on the NSW Central Coast has welcomed five dingo puppies bred in captivity over the autumn months.
With the dingo breeding cycle generally expected to yield two to three puppies, the litter of three boys and two girls born to resident dingoes Adina (two years old) and Fred (three years old) exceeded expectations.
Image courtesy Australian Reptile Park
The puppies will be fully reliant on mother Adina for the next three weeks as they start venturing out of their den.
The Australian Reptile Park breeds dingoes to educate visitors about the importance of the species within the ecosystem, to protect them from extinction and to dispel the myth that the dingo is a dangerous pest, according to a statement from the Park.
“Dingoes are being blasted, baited, tracked, shot and hunted in the wild because of their perceived damage to agriculture. However, killing dingoes removes them from the critical-weight eco-system, allowing feral foxes and cats to continuously increase the rate of mammal extinction,” said Tim Faulkner, General Manager of the Park and 2015 Australian Geographic Conservationist of the Year.
SEE ALSO GALLERY: Understanding dingoes
“If dingoes continue to be hunted, Australia will see another endangered species disappear, just like the Tasmanian Tiger, a marsupial which shared a similar role in the environment as the dingo,” added Tim.
Dingoes are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
During the July school holidays, the dingoes’ den will be open and visible for guests to see the pups roaming with parents Adina and Fred.
RELATED:
- Dingo declared a separate species
- Whales to insects: a dingo’s breakfast on Fraser Island
- Dingo culls cause more harm than good
