Moment dingo steals handbag, food from boat
A cheeky dingo has been captured on film nicking a handbag and food from a boat anchored off K’gari, formerly Fraser Island, in Queensland.
Social media footage obtained by 7 News shows the animal leaping off the boat and swimming to shore with an item in its mouth, before running up the beach.
The owner of the footage said the animal escaped with a “handbag, chocolate, chips and pork crackle”.
“We were running down from the sunset bar to try and stop him,” the post continued.
Visitors to the island are frequently encouraged to make sure their food and rubbish containers are secured due to dingoes - known in Butchulla language as “wongari” - being able to gain access to unsecured containers and chew through thin plastic bags or boxes.
Hefty fines are issued for people who feed the animals.
“Keep all fishing gear, bait, berley and catch that you’re not using in a closed vehicle,” a safety manual on handling dingoes states.
Other warnings suggest burying food wastes while dingoes are not around.
The new footage follows a series of high-risk interactions with the wild animals on K’gari, many of which were filmed.
On September 7, a man was filmed feeding two dingoes by hand at Eastern Beach adjacent to Poyungan Valley.
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service rangers handed him a $2476 fine.
In August, a woman was forced to fight off two of the animals with her water bottle while alone on a beach near Happy Valley - one nipping her in the process.
In June, a 10-year-old boy was attacked and dragged underwater by a dingo, suffering puncture wounds to his shoulder and bruises to his collarbone.
Four dingoes also attacked a 23-year-old woman in July while she was jogging on Orchid Beach, leaving her hospitalised with serious lacerations.
A French tourist was bitten on the buttocks by a dingo while sunbathing in June.
In response, rangers closed several campsites on the island in a bid to “reduce negative dingo interactions and allow for ongoing monitoring and dingo management”.
