River, Rain, Brook and Creek are four wild-born dingo puppies whose lives took a turn when their mother was shot by a farmer in their first few weeks of life. The puppies were destined to be drowned until a neighbour intervened and organised for the puppies to be sent to a dingo rescue. In today’s show, Betty Melon shares her experience staying with dingo carers Alix Livingstone and Zeph Thomson along with their 5 adult dingoes, 3 dogs, 1 cat and 4 fostered dingo puppies. Betty and Trev unpack the challenges and rewards of caring for less domesticated canines like huskies and dingoes and the legacy of domestic dog breeding. We move on to discuss the environmental and animal impact of the dingo fence and ‘wild dog control’ methods on Australian ecosystems. We finish with a poem reading inspired by the stories of the dingoes.

 For more information about dingoes and dingo adoption, please follow Defend the Wild:

 https://www.defendthewild.org/

 And Dingo Culture:

 https://www.dingoculture.com/

 ABC article about the Australian dingo fence:

 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-09/dingo-fence-map-ecology-farming-predator-sheep-extinction/101711608

 Listen to our interview with Alix and Sonya here:

https://www.3cr.org.au/freedomofspecies/episode/dingo-talks-sonya-alix

 Music played: 

 Dingo – John Williamson 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ_Yl5EnmbE

 Change is coming - Emma Donovan & Liz Stringer 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0iJzfSZt5w

 Lil' Red riding hood - Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaTIg1mwq8Q&list=RDBaTIg1mwq8Q&start_radio=1