Surprise ending after eagle drops strange-looking puppy in backyard
A puppy that crash landed into a Victorian backyard has surprised rescuers after a DNA test revealed he is a rare purebred dingo.
The tiny puppy was first discovered “whimpering” at the back of a Wandiligong property in Bright, 320km northeast of Melbourne in August and at first, rescuers had no idea what breed he was.
The woman who found him took to a Facebook group to ask for help.
“l can’t tell if it’s a fox or a dog,” she wrote, posting pictures of the adorable pup.
After some debate over whether he was a fox or a dingo, the woman decided to take the pup to the Alpine Animal Hospital, where they agreed this was no ordinary dog.
Staff sent a DNA sample off for testing and ‘Wandi’ as he was now called, was sent to the Australian Dingo Foundation’s sanctuary while they waited for the results.
“After weeks of anxious waiting, results from UNSW's genetics lab revealed Wandi is a 100% pure Victoria highlands dingo,” the sanctuary posted on Instagram.
The sanctuary focuses on breeding and ensuring the gene pool of pure dingos so they were ecstatic to find out that Wandi is an endangered Alpine dingo.
“Wandi will become part of our breeding program, adding new genes to increase strength and diversity of our captive insurance population of pure dingoes we have at our sanctuary,” they posted.
The dingo pup has been settling in well to his new home and has recovered from his rough landing in Wandiligong.
“We believe Wandi was stolen by an eagle and dropped as he had sustained wounds on his back, and his nails were worn down suggesting he had travelled far on foot before being found,” the foundation posted.
“He is living proof that the dingo is still prevailing in its purest form in Victoria,” the post read.
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