Two dingoes, brought to a remote town in the state’s Mid West to educate the community and tourists on the essential role of apex predators in the ecosystem, have been shot. Now their owners are protesting against the local shire’s bounty system that could have led to their deaths. Dingoes Eulalia and Steve were shot and killed in September.
Credit: Frances Pollock Steven and Eulalia were first brought to Wooleen Station, in the Murchison Shire, when they were still pups in March 2024 – transported by car 4500 kilometres from Queensland. The pair were loved by cattle farmer David Pollock, his wife Frances and dingo researcher Zali Jestrimski. Jestrimski gave talks to visitors about the role dingoes played at Wooleen Station in landscape management, dingo types (alpine, tropical and desert) and the physical differences between dingoes and dogs.
Tourists (adults only) would wear neutral clothing and stay quiet and seated within an enclosure, with the dingo pair choosing whether to come, go or interact during the talks. But on Tuesday, Jestrimski took to social media to tell the community the pair had been shot on September 24. Through tears, she explained they had found the pair – which were microchipped and registered with the Shire – on the side of the road.
“For the first time ever Steve and Eulalia never came home. In the morning ..
. there was no howling. We found they had both been shot on the side of the road.
Their bodies were taken away, the shooter took the.
