Northern Rivers Dingo Information Workshop

Interested in additional tools in the toolbox to keep domestic pets and livestock safe from dingoes? This event is for you. Covering livestock guardian dogs and donkeys, practical domestic animal management strategies, dingoes place in culture and the potential benefits of retaining them in the environment, this workshop will feature a broad spectrum of ideas and experience.

Join us at the Goonellabah Community Centre for dynamic presentations and discussion around dingoes and practical dingo safe strategies.

This session will feature expert speakers from the Dingo Advisory Council who bring a wide range of backgrounds regarding dingoes and dingo management. There will be plenty of time for community discussion, so bring your questions and experiences. Whether you're a landholder, pet owner, or simply interested in local wildlife, this is a wonderful opportunity to deepen your understanding and connect with others in the region.

Expert speakers:

Linda Van Bommel
Livestock Guardian Animal Expert

Dr Linda van Bommel is an animal ecologist specialised in non-lethal predator control in general, and livestock guardian dogs in particular. She is affiliated with the University of Tasmania (UTas) and the Australian National University (ANU) and has been doing field research on livestock guardian dogs for over 15 years.

Her guardian dog research has covered a range of topics; from looking at the effectiveness of these dogs as a predator control method and how they work in Australian environments to their effect on non-predator wildlife and their use for the protection of native Australian animals that are threatened by fox and cat predation. The findings have all been published in leading international journals.

Linda has also written a best practice management manual for the use of livestock guardian dogs, aimed at providing practical information to people wanting to use these dogs. She has helped many people get started with guardian dogs and helped solve issues people encountered with their dogs.

Uncle Lionel Currie
Yugambeh Mununjali/Minjungbal Traditional Owner

Uncle Lionel is a proud Yugambeh Mununjali/Minjungbal man with strong cultural ties to Dingo. Uncle Lionel is kindly sharing the cultural importance of the dingo to him and his family from a local perspective.

Zeph Thomson
Canine expert

Zeph has a decade of experience working with canines and has trained with a wide variety of different breeds. Zeph’s expertise has led them to run a highly successful dog training business K9 Academy, which has now been running for 8 years and boasts over 300 members.

As well as Zeph’s work with domestic dogs, they have significant experience working with wild-born and captive bred Australian dingoes too. In their time working with dingoes they have developed a deepened understanding of the species, their behavior and how to work with them successfully.

Scott Mitchell
Pest Manager 

Scott Mitchell is the sole Director of ‘Mitchell Pest and Maintenance’ and is a highly skilled pest manager who has worked in the industry for 15 years. Over this time, Scott has worked in a range of communities across Queensland and New South Wales, and has a deep understanding on how dingoes impact farming communities, as well as the consequences of removing dingoes from the environment.

Scott’s unique knowledge and experience has led him to realise a more extensive range of tools for predator mitigation are needed to balance the needs of farmers and the benefits of keeping dingo populations in the environment.

Gill Campbell (Via zoom)
Grazier

Gill Campbell owns and manages 13,000 hectare Claravale Station, north of Mitchell in south-west Queensland. Claravale has been owned by Gill’s family for four generations.  Gill has been managing it since 1983. Claravale runs a self-replacing breeder herd of around 700 cows. 

Dingoes were lethally managed at Claravale until 1995 when Gill stopped routine killing. When Gill was growing up and a young man in the 1960s and ‘70s, Dingoes were shot and trapped, with around 20 Dingoes killed a year on Claravale.  However, calf losses remained high, with around ten percent of calves killed or injured in attacks. 

Since Gill stopped indiscriminately persecuting Dingoes, incidents of killing and injury to cattle has greatly reduced. Gill believes this is because Claravale now has stable Dingo families with experienced ‘alpha’ males and females, who are more skilled at taking adult kangaroos, pigs and goats, and less likely to attempt to attack cattle. The alpha animals work hard to keep their territories clear of other Dingoes, and Claravale now has less Dingoes than previously. 

Richard Polglaze (Via zoom)

Livestock guardian donkey expert

Richard Polglaze has dedicated 39 years to working with donkeys in both Australia and the United States. This experience spans various aspects of donkey management, from training and mustering to utilising them as livestock guardians. Richard has worked with both full and hybrid donkeys, including mules.He has a deep understanding of agricultural systems due to years of running stock camps and working on livestock stations. His skills in pastoralism were recognised when he was selected to represent Australia as a Young Achiever in Agriculture, a testament to his expertise in working stock and working alongside landholders. Richard has extensive experience in assisting landholders to successfully integrate livestock guardian donkeys into their operations to protect livestock from predators.