Anyone heading for the great Australian outdoors – in eastern states at least – has been warned of a new, giant breed of dog terrorising the outback.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the new breed of half-dingo, half-dog has been killing livestock and terrorising “walkers, horse riders and campers” along the Great Dividing Range, a huge area stretching from Queensland through New South Wales to Victoria.
The newspaper reports that the new strain of “super-dingoes” has been created by cross-breeding between dingoes and escaped or abandoned domestic dogs including rottweilers, bull mastiffs and Rhodesian ridgebacks.
One specimen recently shot by a farmer weighed as much as 154 pounds, according to the Telegraph.
Brian Tomalin, of the New South Wales Farmers’ Association, is quoted as saying: “There is a real possibility that someone is going to be killed by one of these things, especially if they stumble on a den.”
In some areas, the newspaper reports, the dogs have killed so many sheep that farmers have switched to keeping cattle instead.
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad
