Ngugum (Dingo)
The Minyumai Ngugum project is a Minyumai IPA partnership with Dingo Culture, Girringun Aboriginal Corporation, Jagun Alliance, Defend the Wild, World Wildlife Fund, University of New South Wales, Taronga Zoo, Byron Shire Council, and Wildbnb Wildlife Habitat.
We monitor Ngugum population movements and impacts on feral animals and threatened species across Minyumai and neighbouring Bundjalung National Park and freehold properties.
Our Ngugum monitoring includes the deployment of camera traps, as well as the collection of scats to understand the diet of our Ngugum.
Ngugum are Boss of Country. They work to maintain the balance of Country. Their main food source is macropods like swamp wallabies and kangaroos. They also play an important role suppressing introduced species like foxes.
The National Inaugural First Nations Dingo Forum
In September 2023, our rangers attended the National Inaugural First Nations Dingo Forum in Cairns, where First Nations groups from across Australia came together to have their say on current dingo management. The event resulted in the writing and signing of the National First Nations Dingo Declaration, which highlights the cultural importance of Dingoes and calls for First Nations involvement in non-lethal management on Country.
We support the advancement of non-lethal management
We promote the non-lethal management of dingoes at a local, State and National level, and encourage and educate landholders, including collaborating with and sharing the groundbreaking research by Dr Kylie Cairns, UNSW conservation biologist, proving 'wild dogs' are in fact dingoes
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Advocating for Change
On 7th August, 2024, Minyumai IPA Rangers led a delegation to Parliament House in Sydney, calling for an inquiry into dingo management in NSW. Currently dingoes are the only native mammal excluded from protection in NSW.
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Meeting with Ministers
During the Rangers visit to Parliament in 2024, they were invited to meet with the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, The Hon. David Harris. The rangers discussed their work on Country, particularly the monitoring of dingoes.
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Dingoes to Parliament
Our visit to parliament gained mainstream media attention, spreading our ambitions for dingoes into the mainstream. We continue our advocacy for dingo protection alongside our partners Dingo Culture and Defend the Wild.
