“Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.”
Psalm 22:20
Dingoes are medium-sized dogs, about the size of English setters. They are a breed of wild dogs living in Australia and look much like wolves, especially their heads. Most of them have yellowish-brown fur, short, upright ears and long, bushy tails. Their faces, with large, black noses and eyes, have a rather kind look, but their cunning eyes disclose that they can be fierce fighters. They rarely bark but howl instead.
These animals like to travel in packs and hunt together. Their chief food is the wallaby, a small kangaroo. But the people of Australia dislike them tremendously because another of their favorite foods is sheep.
It is thought that dingoes originated as pet dogs of Australia’s earliest settlers and that over the years they became wild. Often when one is caught it seems friendly enough, but sooner or later it escapes to join a pack of wild dingoes.
Dingoes usually travel in small packs and are amazingly tough. There have been instances where sheep ranchers have found one eating a lamb and have shot it, discovering later that the dingo had not died but recovered and rejoined its pack and continued raiding sheep. In one of the earlier raids, it was reported that ranchers in just one area lost over a thousand sheep in a relatively short time to these vicious dogs.
However, in present times it is not uncommon for a rancher to make a pet of a young dingo he manages to capture. In addition, quite a few are kept in zoos where little ones are born and frequently sold to people as pets. They still often escape when there is opportunity and apparently are accepted into a wild pack.
The damage done to flocks of sheep over the years finally led to the building of the longest fence in the world in an effort to keep dingoes away. The tall fence made of strong wire is almost four thousand miles long and stretches nearly all the way across the southern part of Australia.
But while this helps to keep dingoes away from the sheep, they frequently dig the soil away from the bottom of the fence with their paws and then wriggle under it. Only a small number of them do this, and they are not now the large problem once experienced.
A Bible verse, explaining that we should not get involved in quarrels and matters that are not worthwhile, tells us, “He that [passes] by, and [meddles] with strife belonging not to him, is like one that [takes] a dog by the ears” (Proverbs 26:17). It is better to be occupied with pleasant things that will be pleasing to the Lord. We often need to ask Him to help us to avoid evil things.
ML-08/05/2007