MidCoast Council, in conjunction with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has been forced to cull five dingoes in the Tea Gardens Hawks Nest area.
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During the past month council has received reports of increased ferocity from the three male and two female dingoes which have been involved in at least five incidents involving people and domestic pets
Council has repeatedly urged members of the community to stop approaching or feeding the dingoes as their behaviour began to escalate to an unacceptable public risk.
During this period the pack has been under surveillance from council, NPWS and NSW Local Land Services.
"We are all really disappointed that it has come to this," MidCoast Council senior ecologist, Mat Bell said.
"We know that dingoes can and should be allowed to live around the Hawks Nest area, but human intervention - while those feeding them may think they're being kind - is what has caused the dangerous change in this pack's behaviour."
We are all really disappointed that it has come to this.
- Mat Bell
Mr Bell explained that when dingoes were fed by humans, the territory where this frequently occurs becomes worth defending and sometimes within days they may become territorial and exhibit increased aggressions against those they perceive as a threat.
"It's imperative that the community gets behind this important message and please, do not approach or feed the dingoes.
"We cannot have this continue, ultimately it's the dingoes that suffer."
Council has created an online reporting form for members of the public to share information about interactions and incidents with dingoes, while rangers have also been advised to issue penalties to anyone caught ignoring Dingo Smart advice.
"Our rangers will be following up on reports of residents feeding dingoes, but the compliance issue also falls to instances where bins haven't been secured properly and food scraps are easily accessible.
"We're also working closely with experts from Taronga Zoo and the University of NSW to increase understanding of the dingoes in our region and we'll be running a pre-Easter awareness campaign to ensure everyone is on board to protect our dingoes before the holiday period, we'll need the community to be advocates and lead by example to stop tourists from feeding and approaching dingoes too."
