Confronting picture could 'embarrass' Australia on world stage

Yahoo

16-06-2025

Inside a large cage is not where most Aussies picture a wild animal, but behind its steel bars is one of the only places the dingo is safe. An image of the creature inside its nighttime quarters has captured the world's attention, as it made the shortlist of an international photography competition.
Taken by wildlife photojournalist Doug Gimesy, the plan was to show both the dingo and Lyn Watson from the Australian Dingo Foundation 'trapped', because governments in Australia promote the trapping, poisoning and shooting of our native apex predator. They have been completely wiped out across much of the landscape.
"I wanted to create a picture that makes people stop and think, what's going on?" Gimesy told Yahoo News. "It is sad that a lot of our wildlife seems to only be 100 per cent safe when it is in an enclosed area, which is an affront to the term wild-life."
During the day, the dingoes are able to roam free on a custom-fenced property, but at night they return to their pens. Gimesy's image was taken early in the morning before they were let outside into the sunshine.
Setting up the right angle and perfect lighting took close to an hour because focusing on the eyes of two subjects behind metal bars is technically tough. Gimesy wanted the image to be both beautiful and shocking.
The picture, named 'On their side', was a finalist in the 'Human/Nature' category of the prestigious BigPicture: Natural World Competition. It's one of two pictures he was nominated for — the other, 'Baby on Board' shows another threatened species, a grey-headed flying fox carrying its young as she flies.
Despite their numbers continuing to decline, the species continues to be forced out of its habitat due to noise, mess, and claims about damage to trees. Gimesy hopes his images will help Australians see native animals in new ways.
"When our wildlife are put on the world stage, it can sometimes nudge policy just a little bit, because people may be embarrassed about what we're doing," he said.
"All imagery that I shoot is really about trying to change attitude and behaviour."
Dingo culling continues in Victoria because some farmers believe they kill sheep. Watson, the subject of Gimesy's portrait, believes they much prefer to eat native animals, and will only eat sheep as a last resort when they've been shorn. "If I put down a bowl of crickets and a bowl of lamb, the lamb won't get touched because it's so fatty," she said.
Although dingoes are threatened with extinction across the state, in 2024 the Victorian government extended a culling program until 2028.
The program will mean that a genetically distinct population of Victoria's alpine dingoes which numbers fewer than 2,640 individuals, will continue to be killed. Although a population in the northwest that numbers just 40 is now protected. However, they were put at risk earlier this year when a contractor mistakenly dropped baits in their known habitat.
Watson compares the dingoes' situation in modern Australia to that of wolves in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries, where they were hunted to near extinction.
"Nobody even knows how many dingos we started with in Australia, before they started killing them wholesale," she said. "I wish we didn't have to keep our sanctuary, but it's the safest place in Victoria for them."
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