05/10/2024
Such a senseless and unnecessary act of cruelty 😔
On the 24th of September two dingoes were shot on the side of the road in Murchison. They were together, a pair. Dingoes mate for life. The first would have been shot as it considered, with the extraordinary intelligence that dingoes are well know for, what the car had stopped for. The second would have died in a state of anxious confusion, disorientated by the sound of the rifle fire, terrified by the smell and strange behaviour of its lifelong companion, jerking and thrashing in a pool of its own blood. It would have wanted to run. But it stayed, terrified, with its mate. A second shot, and they lay dying together.
So far it’s not a particularly noteworthy situation. Dingoes are shot all the time all around Australia. This fact is hidden from the general public, by calling them wild dogs. Murchison shire has a bounty on wild dogs. I assume the shooter would have been pleased to get them both, as by presenting their scalps to the regional coordinator they could have been paid $200.
But these were no ordinary dingoes. These dingoes were Steve, and Eulalia. They were captive raised at the Australian Dingo Foundation in Victoria, for the express purpose of re-educating the Australian public. A nation of people who have been lied to.
We have been lied to in so many ways about the dingo. Most especially, that they don’t even exist. Instead, that they have been replaced by “wild dogs”. Yet readily available DNA evidence shows that nothing could be further from the truth. From a scientific standpoint, it’s not even debatable.
But the person who shot Steve and Eulalia knew they were dingoes. The wild dog myth is not for people who regularly kill dingoes. They know they are dingoes. The wild dog myth is for the general public, those who have never seen the animals who are killed, so that they continue to give their sanction to a system who prioritises the sheep above all else.
I know that sounds far too bizarre to be true, but the issue we are dealing with is a cultural one. It was born long ago, when wool was what Australia relied upon, when a colonial mindset insisted that the closer we could make Australia to Britain, the better.
Our shooter took the bodies of Steve and Eulalia away. They had no reason to do that, except that they knew exactly who Steve and Eulalia were. They knew they were Wooleens dingoes, that their purpose was to be a living example to draw attention to a lie that the shooter believes. They werent hung from the closest tree, as many dingoes are.
Instead they were dragged to the car, past the spent bullet casings, and thrown into the back of the Ute. I know it was a ute. There was a lot of blood on the drag marks. Nobody throws a bloody dead animal into anything other than a ute. I know what brand, type, and condition the tires were in. I know the rifle that shot Steve and Eulalia was a 223, which is common. But this rifle is worn out. It misfired on two of the four shots it took at Steve and Eulalia. This is very unusual. It is not the weapon of a professional. It is not reliable enough. I know what type of boots the shooter has, and roughly their size. I know that they were on their way to Murchison settlement. I know they continued on that way. All of this is probably enough information for me to find out who did it.
For about 6 hours, on the morning of the 25 September, I lost hope. I was sick of fighting the system, of death, of our culture. I was sick of my anger.
But it only lasted 6 hours.
Fighting for what I believe in is what I’m good at.
And a healthy Australian bush is worth fighting for.
For that, we need dingoes.
I’m no stranger to death. But I learnt a lot through the passing of Steve a Eulalia. I have learnt how to fight without anger.
I have a message for the person who shot Steve and Eulalia. I grew up in Murchison, and I know you could be almost anyone. Maybe you took their bodies away, didn’t hang them from the nearest tree, because you didn’t want us to experience the pain of seeing how they died. But your culture insisted that they be killed nonetheless.
I understand. Our culture is important. It’s what keeps us together. But sometimes culture needs to change.
My message is this: By the twilight of your life you will be ashamed to tell your grandchildren that you were the one who shot Steve and Eulalia. By then most, if not all Australians, will know the incredible foolishness of grasping blindly to a colonial ideal, rather than to the ecological wisdom of our beautiful continent. If you then still cling to the notion that dingoes are vermin, to be shot by the side of a road, you will be very lonely in your beliefs.
What make me so sure of this? Because, my friend, I will make it so. That is what I’m doing now. I know, I can’t do it alone. But I’m not alone.
Wooleen is a community. Thousands of people come here every year to learn about how we fix our land from the mistakes of the past. They all learn that the dingo is the key. Steve and Eulalia have blessed many of them with a grateful kiss.
Cultural change needs education, and movement. Steve and Eulalia were education. Now we need movement.
We have been reluctant to call people to our aid, and to aid the changes we know are necessary. We see Wooleen as a place of learning, connection and peace.
Steve and Eulalias shooting was a direct attack on the culture we are trying to create. If you are part of the Wooleen community, we need you to do something. To spread a very simple message, that is the antidote to a myth and a lie. It is aimed at those who work on behalf of us all, our government departments, and the media.
Stop calling dingoes wild dogs.
I was going to send this message out soon after Eulalia and Steve’s shooting, but I didn’t, and perhaps it was just as well. There has been a considerable amount of anger directed at our local shire councillors. This is understandable, but not the way forward I don’t believe.
Many of our councillors, our industries and our leadership are simply stuck in a cultural paradigm. Anger at them will likely only entrench that paradigm further. If you really feel the need to contact the shire, I think a simple message of support for Steve and Eulalia, and for all dingoes out performing their essential ecosystem services would be more effective to get the change we need.
https://wooleen.com.au/stop-the-bounty/
