An interesting story on disappearances in the Vic High country

Lost people in the bush can be difficult to find due to steep and over grown terrain. In Victoria High Country most searches are really track searches - they really don't go into the bush itself. On two lost people searches I offered to put some 50 very experienced bushmen in on foot to find those who were lost. Each time I was refused. Over time others have had the same experience.

Re wild dogs. Domestic dogs in the bush - lost pets or hunting dogs - are usually in big trouble if they encounter wild dogs. They will be killed and eaten. A coupler of years ago in NE Vic I was 'privileged' to be there when two wild dog packs, each of about five dogs, met and fought. To say it was fierce is an understatement and the noise was horrendous.

I seriously suggest to never underestimate the threat that a wild dog is. Over the years I've called in and shot some absolutely huge specimens.

Now for the contentious [2] bits. The panther. A farmer called me to come and have a look at something. I went and he showed me a tree with a fork some half a dozen metres up. In the fork a dead Swamp Wallaby was jammed there. These adult macropods weigh around 20 kgs.

In some very remote N/E Vic country - no vehicle access and I had walked in - I sat and observed a clearing across a gully. A black swamp wallaby streaked across it at full pace and hot on its heels was a black cat. The cat was taller and longer than the wallaby.

One of the Vic Gov departments (probably the department of conservation now) had a cat skin they took around to the Ag Shows in the early 80s that was a metre long from tip of nose to tip of tail. I've seen fully black feral cats in bush reserves near our place that were about that size, but they look bigger when you see them in the bush, particularly if they're all one colour. The one I'm thinking of was all black and went up a tree and then stuck its face through a fork in the tree - and it's face filled the fork. Seriously big animal and gave me a real shock. I'd have shot it but I was walking along a road at the time, so I would have to have gone into the paddock to do it, and the neighbour who owned the land hadn't given me permission ....

That disappearance story was interesting. It said the bloke normally stayed close to his campsite. The fire which had scorched the vehicle was also unusual.
No sign of bodies at the campsite. Was there an explosion which killed them and then dogs dragged them away? You would think dragged bodies would leave a trail.
Or is there a nutter killing people? Mysterious.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

That disappearance story was interesting. It said the bloke normally stayed close to his campsite. The fire which had scorched the vehicle was also unusual.
No sign of bodies at the campsite. Was there an explosion which killed them and then dogs dragged them away? You would think dragged bodies would leave a trail.
Or is there a nutter killing people? Mysterious.

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Fire was probably deliberately lit to get rid of evidence no doubt,by the perpetrators.Then bodies moved into the scrub into a remote area of the park.

Thats my guess,probably seen to many movies....[bighmmm]

I have seen with roos,and sheep,wild dogs don't usually take the whole body away,it would be to heavy anyway, they will take pieces or eat it where it is.The pieces and bones eventually end up all over the place,as they decompose,and as other animals move in,often wild pigs,birds of prey,crows,goannas,foxes,cats,etc.

You normally here wild dogs around Easter but this year they have been very active up until maybe a month ago. We are surrounded by at least 4 packs that you can hear at night time howling away. Thought to be driven closer into towns due to the bush fires but I don't believe that to the case. I know they had a few problems in town with someones Cat getting attacked. I believe they trapped a few in Bright which dissipated their problem. We are lambing at the moment and it is a sleepless task! I wanted to upload an audio taken from the house taken a month ago which you can hear the dogs howling but appear to be unable to do so.

For the first time in living memory there are dingoes in the Wimmera-Mallee.

Edit: the dingoes are in the Wyperfeld/Big Desert national parks in Vic. The Big Desert is contiguous with the Ngarkat national park in SA.

I grew up on a sheep farm south of there and never heard of any dingoes being in the area, and I've camped in Wyperfeld (albeit 25 years ago) and never heard of any dingoes being there, so it's not clear to me how long they've been present in the area.

I saw something online a year ago where someone camping in Wyperfeld/Big Desert mentioned hearing dingoes howling at night.

According to this they are dingoes and not wild dogs:

South Australia is still killing dingoes | ConservationBytes.com

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Originally Posted by Arapiles

I'd have shot it but I was walking along a road at the time, so I would have to have gone into the paddock to do it, and the neighbour who owned the land hadn't given me permission ....

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You were walking along a road armed????

The unanswered question is why anyone would want to kill and carry away two harmless elderly people who were just sitting around a campfire minding their own business.
The story says the cops are not aware of any drug plantations in the area.
Plus two other people have also gone missing in the same area in the last six months, so it's not an isolated incident.

Has someone just stopped taking their meds and gone completely delusional out there in the bush?
It happens in the city, when paranoid people wrongly think they are fine so they can stop taking their meds, so it could happen in the bush.
It's a worry. One day, when the world stops being crazy, I'd like to visit that area, so it would be nice not to have to be looking over the shoulder all the time.

For the first time in years I saw 2 Dingos between Gregory & Doomadgee last week.
Usually see lots of wild dogs & Dingo Cross but these were definitely Dingos & looked near as pure breed.
Jonesfam

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arapiles

For the first time in living memory there are dingoes in the Wimmera-Mallee.

Edit: the dingoes are in the Wyperfeld/Big Desert national parks in Vic. The Big Desert is contiguous with the Ngarkat national park in SA.

I grew up on a sheep farm south of there and never heard of any dingoes being in the area, and I've camped in Wyperfeld (albeit 25 years ago) and never heard of any dingoes being there, so it's not clear to me how long they've been present in the area.

I saw something online a year ago where someone camping in Wyperfeld/Big Desert mentioned hearing dingoes howling at night.

According to this they are dingoes and not wild dogs:

South Australia is still killing dingoes | ConservationBytes.com

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Thomas Mitchell camped on the Glenelg downstream of present day Dartmoor at a spot he named Wild Dog Bend because of the racket that night. !836

There are numerous references in George Robinson's journals about wild dogs and the problems they caused the early settlers after Mitchell.

There are also references in the journals about which tribes had dingoes at the time and which didn't. 1841

Keep in mind that Bass Strait was alive with sealers and whalers in the late 1700's so the dogs could have come from them, but is unlikely because Robinson was accompanied by a dozen or so aborigines from different tribes who gave him the dingo info.

DL