Dingoes are medium-sized dogs, about the size of English setters. They are a breed of wild dogs living in Australia that look a lot 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 sometimes travel in packs and hunt together. One of their common foods is the wallaby, a small kangaroo, though they also look for smaller prey. The people of Australia dislike them tremendously because another food they will eat is sheep.
It is thought that dingoes originated as pet dogs introduced to Australia by sailors from Asia 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 often 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 1000 sheep in a relatively short time to these vicious dogs.
The damage done to flocks of sheep over the years led to the reinforcing of the longest fence in the world (originally built to keep rabbits out) in an effort to keep dingoes away. The tall fence made of strong wire is almost 3,500 miles long and stretches nearly all the way across the southern part of Australia.
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 26:1717He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh 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 need to ask Him often to help us avoid evil things.
Messages of God’s Love 1/22/2023