The plight of dingoes in Australia mirrors that of the wolf in Europe and America - often criticised, frequently demonised and always misunderstood.

The question has to be asked - why do people think of the Big Bad Wolf, when wolf attacks on humans are virtually unheard of (seeing as they would much rather stay away from us)?

The answer is simple, and further proves the theory that the strong connection between humans and dogs is not due to human characteristics in dogs, rather dog traits in us.

The only reason wolves and their cousins became an enemy was when we as people changed our practices towards cattle, traditionally a source of food to the predators (us included). When we started to farm them, keep them in pens and so forth, we created an easier form of hunting for other predators. Why waste your energy running for miles when the food is going nowhere in a paddock - that's the equivalent of fast food!

This natural predation of livestock meant a direct loss of earnings (and therefore survival) to the farmers, and in a (excuse the pun) dog eat dog world it's you or me mate! Hence the slaughter of our new "enemy" which still goes on today. In the wild, the biggest threat to a wolf pack is the nearest big pack to it. Same story here, but instead we have glamorised the whole struggle by creating the myth of wolves as aggressive creatures that will tear our throats out given half a chance.

Here's the bottom line - Little Red Riding Hood bumped off the old woman for the inheritance. Blaming a wolf was the easy part......

If you're interested in knowing more about the plight of dingos there's an interesting piece here:  http://www.ecovoice.com.au/enews/enews-60/HAB_dingo.php

Cheers. Tony