Discussions on protecting dingoes were taking place on this day in 1977, as it was a possibility they would soon be declared a protected animal in the ACT.
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A shift in community attitude toward dingoes had led to the Minister for the ACT, Mr Staley, announcing he would review the legislation declaring dingoes as noxious animals, which placed them in a category of animals farmers and graziers were required to kill if sighted on their properties.
The community's changing attitude toward the native dogs had been largely due to observations by the CSIRO and other organisations which showed their diets mainly consisted of smaller animals, like rabbits, insects, lizards and frogs, rather than domestic livestock.
Dingoes were also considered useful in culling weak or excess individuals from native fauna populations. It was unlikely the number of purebred dingoes in the ACT was high, and ACT rural lessees said a greater issue to landholders was uncontrolled domestic dogs, with more than 80 sheep killed or attacked by domestic dogs in the state that month.
