AUSTRALIANS FEAR NEW BREED OF 'SUPERDOG' (EWE CANNOT BE SERIOUS!)

Drudge Report ^ | Dec 16 | Drudge

[jjbrouwer]

SYDNEY -- Sheep farmers are being terrorized by packs of half-dingo, half-mastiff wild dogs they say roam the countryside and pose a danger to humans.

Graziers say hundreds of sheep and lambs have been killed by the so-called "superdogs", which are breeding in rugged forests and mountains in New South Wales and Victoria.

They say the dogs are so aggressive that it is only a matter of time before they attack a hiker or farmer.

Six months ago wild dingoes on Fraser Island, a holiday resort off the coast of Queensland, killed a nine-year-old boy.

The cross-bred dingoes, larger than normal dingoes, are the product of mating between the native dog and escaped domestic breeds such as Alsatians, pit bulls and bull mastiffs.

Wild dogs have thrived since national park rangers abandoned a program of dropping poisoned meat baits from planes and helicopters four years ago.

The program ended due to concerns that the baits killed tiger quolls, an endangered native animal about the size of a cat.

The number of wild dogs on the loose also has increased due to a rise in recreational hunting in the forests.

Hunters use breeds such as rottweilers and Rhodesian ridgebacks to go after wild pigs, and some of the dogs escape and interbreed with dingoes.

Angry landowners are calling for a resumption of aerial baiting, saying the dogs are becoming increasingly bold.

Farmer Stuart Morant, 50, who runs 500 sheep on a 405-hectare property in the Tallangatta Valley in Victoria, said he had lost thousands of dollars worth of livestock over the past few years.

"Aside from the financial loss, it is incredibly distressing. I walked down to one of the paddocks one morning to find a wild dog had attacked a ewe as it was giving birth to a lamb. The dog had eaten half the lamb as it was coming out of the womb, and killed the mother," Mr Morant said.

The problem has become so acute that Australia's first National Wild Dog Summit will be held in the city of Wodonga, Victoria, in February.

Farmers, politicians and national parks rangers from Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland will meet to try to resolve their differences and plan an eradication campaign.

A spokesman for the National Parks and Wildlife Service of New South Wales said:

"We sympathise with farmers. They say they are witnessing the emergence of a kind of `superdog' in the mountains. We understand how tough it is to have 200 sheep killed in a season. It's very traumatic. But the tiger quoll is a threatened species."

Sheep farmer Betty Murtagh rejected the quoll argument, saying the wild dogs killed quolls and other wildlife.

[lizma]

Those who merely WANT guns -- types who watch American TV and indulge in American pastimes like injecting cocaine --- thankfully, are kept gun free

DREAM ON

[LiberalBassTurds]

Hehehe I've been to Australia too many times. I'll never forget the discussion I had with one guy, at a business lunch no less, where he proceeded to tell me (unsolicited) that he knew the Americans were totally racist citing the treatment of blacks. Now mind you this was a tie-wearing middle aged business man. He was slack jawed when I asked him to explain the Aussie's treatment of the aboriginies. Talking to most Aussies is like stepping into a time warp...you'd swear you were back in the 1950's. Reference guns, you have your system we have ours. Good luck fending off the super dogs with righteous indignation.

[Mogger]

We have the same problem in northern New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

There's a cross breed between cyote and wolf up here that will eventually munch om someone. (Hopefully a Sierra Club member out for a hike).

[jjbrouwer]

Liz: You're next

Kanga: Those who merely WANT guns -- types who watch American TV and indulge in American pastimes like injecting cocaine --- thankfully, are kept gun free.

Liz: We don't get many will doggies in London. And like Kanga I am fairly satisfied with our gun protection.

Britain has the most expert armed police in the world. It is just that we don't insist every hick on the beat should pack lead. Saves mistakes that way, you see.

Kanga: I don't think all Americans take cocaine. Alas, the greatest US export is Jerry Springer and his guests usually convey that impression!!!

[Mortimer Snavely]

Over here in Japan me and a friend of mine from Tennessee overheard some Australians fresh out of University talk about feral cats in timid and tremulous sounds. Tennessee asked me what a feral cat was, and I told him. He couldn't believe it, and, being the loud walking, proud talking Americans that we are, we started to talk about boar hunting with handguns in cheerful tones and exaggerated Southern accents. The young Aussies finished their drinks and left.

People like you and those kids turned one of the freest countries in the world into something unmanly, suitable only for neurotics and therapeutic matriarchs.

With my apologies to those real Australians who follow these threads and participate in this forum.

[dennisw]

Wot happened to that world class/ 3000 mile long/ dingo fence that was built down in Oz? Seems like it sprung a few holes.

At least Oz has major balls in one department and that was repelling those leaky boats full of Muslim queue jumpers. I prefer my image of Oz as a kangaroo paradise, not a Muslim one.

[dennisw]

Sheep farmers are being terrorized by packs of half-dingo, half-mastiff wild dogs they say roam the countryside and pose a danger to humans........

These are dingos. Not "half dingos" etc. Why the exaggeration?

[lizma]

Britain has more at home "break-ins" than most of the "civilized" world. They have # 1 status when it comes to armed robbery in other peoples home.
Don't preach to me!!!!! The law abiding criminals would never purchase guns. JJJEEEEEEZZZ.
Sorry to inform you but WAKE UP . The bad people are out there.

[BlackbirdSST]

Time to bring out the varmint guns.
They don't have any! Blackbird.

[Mercat]

emailing this to my husband who is worshiped and adored by an Australian Cattle Dog which is part Dingo. He, the dog, not the husband, is the sweetest baby but there is a profound difference between him and a regular dog. He is wild but extremely well trained. We never trust him around the granddaughter. He has the reflexes and the desire (you can see it in his eyes) and the teeth to rip out the occasional throat but he's mainly afraid of this evil twin buried in his soul and keeps away from temptation.

[aye_am_mr_burns]

where do i get one of these dogs lol

[Orual]

"I would find the evil-twin argument more plausible," said Rob Gordon, executive director of the National Wilderness Institute. "That would be like bank robbers taking money from a bank and saying they were just testing the security of a bank, they weren't really stealing the money. That's beautiful, but I don't think it will fly," Mr. Gordon said.

The dodos are still with us.

[Orual]

Did it again. Posted on the wrong thread. More coffee, please. WHAT?

[KingKangaroo]

Ahhh, the old chestnut, Americans and guns: for people in nations where one encounters metal detectors in airports rather than schools, watching US news is like sitting helplessly behind glass, watching a baby play with a knife and a power socket. Terrifying and tragic, yet strangely, horribly, the sort of thing you can't stop watching. You scream and you shout but they can't hear you!!! And in regards to "downtrodden serf of the british Crown anti-gun conspiracy" comments - I respect the US greatly for its status as the proudest republic (nation) in the world and look forward to the day when Republican Australia can take its rightful seat alongside Uncle Sam in the Theatre of Nation. But times have changed. Are Australian republicans in 2001 meant to take up arms, seize the Governor's mansion and the powder magazine - rebel like you guys did? That would make us terrorists liable to blowing-to-crap under the Bush Doctrine. Blow up London pubs like the IRA? Bomb British Emnbassies like the Israelis? Obviously none of these are feasible. Australian Republicans are doing what we can --- so please don't blame it on our gun laws. As I have always said ... if the Yanks want to shoot each other its their call. We, however shall do differently and when I pass the unbalanced postal officer at work, I shall be thankful for it.

[jjbrouwer]

re: posting on the wrong threads...

Don't worry, Orual. Hennypenny has been employing this trick for years. It actually enlivens the debate to have someone interject with something that has nothing to do with the topic!

[jjbrouwer]

Actually, Kanga: if I move back to a gun-friendly area of the States, I will take advantage of the friendly gun laws to arm myself to the teeth. I quite like guns though I don't think I would sit for hours lovingly polishing them like some Americans do.

I don't have any wish to be 'tooled-up' in Britain though. And the Labour and Conservative parties are never going to allow anything like that through in my lifetime.

Regarding your comment here... We, however shall do differently and when I pass the unbalanced postal officer at work, I shall be thankful for it.

There is actually a poster here with a name like 'Going Postal!'

[KingKangaroo]

JJ, I wonder if my bet with Peabs still stands over here????? Post-modernity would suggest not!

[jjbrouwer]

I am sure the great man has not forgotten your wager, Kanga!

Still, he may have trouble enforcing it.

[KingKangaroo]

I feel bad I really I do. If he was only a) a Yank expat or b) a Tory --- I could deal with it. But a Tory Yank ex-pat??