Today I’m excited to share my interview with The Dingo Channel. One of the challenges we had when we were looking into adopting a dingo was that there wasn’t a lot of information out there, so it’s awesome when we come across people who know about dingoes and are happy to share their knowledge.   

As luck should have it, the creators of The Dingo Channel were in Perth so I invited them over to meet our dingoes and head out for a dingo walk. 

About The Dingo Channel

The Dingo Channel was created by young Aussies, Zali and Elliottt, who both volunteered at the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and Research Centre (The Sanctuary) in Victoria. The Sanctuary is run by the Australian Dingo Foundation and is located in the City of Melton, north-west of Melbourne. 

One of The Dingo Channel’s newest videos is an interview with David Pollock from Wooleen Station. What’s interesting about Zali’s interview with David, is that David is a pastoralist, so he’s part of an industry that is typically not pro-dingo. You can watch their video, “Why do people kill dingoes? What about Wild Dogs” here:

David Pollock also has a book called The Wooleen Way, which covers everything from his family’s journey at Wooleen Station through to politics, ecology and of course, dingoes. My description really doesn’t do it justice, you can check it out here at Wooleen’s website and also here on Amazon. 

Interview with The Dingo Channel 

During our last Australian summer, I headed out with The Dingo Channel for a dingo walk. I was really keen to meet with them because of their affinity with the Australian dingo and their experience volunteering at the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and Research Centre in Victoria. 

For those not from Australia, Victoria is in the south-east corner of Australia, with a different climate to Western Australia, different types of dingoes and different dingo laws. Victoria typically has much lower temperatures in winter, it can snow in some parts and yet Victoria also experiences very hot summers. 

The dingoes in Victoria are usually alpine dingoes, which have thicker coats. Most of the dingoes at The Sanctuary are alpine dingoes. In winter, they look quite large compared to summer, when they’ve lost their winter coat. 

>>> Watch my interview with The Dingo Channel or check out the transcript below:

Transcript of my interview with The Dingo Channel

[00:01:09] Intrepid World: Welcome back, everybody. Thank you for joining me on another video. So I’m really excited about this one. I’m actually doing my first collaborative video with another team of YouTubers. So right now I’m going to flip the camera around and show you I’m here with Zali and Elliott from The Dingo Channel. So yeah, this is awesome and everything has just kind of been falling into place.

[00:20:19] Intrepid World: So I’ve been following Elliott and Zali on their Instagram page and I noticed they were in Western Australia, so I reached out to them and asked if they’d be interested in doing a video together. And here we are. So thank you so much for joining me and for responding to my messages.

[00:37:16] Zali: Yeah, thanks so much for having us.

[00:39:21] Intrepid World: So it’s been wonderful. I’ve spent a few hours with them this morning going over some questions and having a chat and learning more about my two dingoes. But today I thought it would be a great opportunity to speak with two intrepid young people who are travelling around Australia, meeting all these other dingoes on their journey, and ask them some questions about what it’s like for them working at the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary in Victoria for the Australian Dingo Foundation.

The Dingo Channel and The Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and Research Centre

[01:03:04] Intrepid World: The first question I wanted to ask you guys is when did you first start working with dingoes?

[01:16:10] Zali:I think it was four years ago now. We are from Melbourne so we live quite close to the Australian Dingo Foundation Sanctuary, the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and Research Centre. And we went there just to cuddle some cute cubs and go for a tour. But as it turned out, when you go and do it, you learn all about dingoes. And I was just blown away by these incredible animals, the apex predator.

[01:39:04] Intrepid World: So you did go to university?

[01:41:12] Zali: Yeah. Yeah, I did. So I have a Bachelor in Science, majoring in wildlife and conservation biology.

[01:47:04] Intrepid World: And was that really what kind of drew you guys to the Dingo Sanctuary in the first place? You just wanted to kind of go and see dingoes, had that kind of a love for animals and just wanted to go see what it was all about?

[01:59:03] Zali: Yeah, yeah. That’s it, we also didn’t know anything about dingoes. It’s like the majority of Australia, I think, don’t know much about dingoes. I really hope that’s starting to change and I think it is. There’s some really cool science coming out now about dingoes and some cool books. Favel Parrett has a new book out that’s up for a lot of awards at the moment called Wandi, which is incredible.

[02:19:15] Zali: So it’s (dingoes)  becoming a bit more in the spotlight for positive reasons rather than negative reasons, which is really cool. But yeah, originally we just didn’t know anything about dingoes.

Wandi the Dingo

[02:27:00] Intrepid World: So yeah. Yeah, you mentioned Wandi. Tell us about Wandi, isn’t Wandi the world’s most famous dingo?

[02:33:25] Zali: Yeah, he sure is. So Wandi is a pure alpine dingo. He came from the Victorian high country. He has a bit of a different story, where somebody in a small town of Wandilagong woke up one morning and had this cub in their backyard. So they weren’t sure whether it was a dog or a fox or a dingo to begin with.

[02:51:18] Zali: So they took it to the vet, turned out it was a dingo and after DNA testing we found out that he was actually a pure dingo. And the reason that’s so significant is because we often get told that in the Victorian high country we have no dingoes left, that they’re all either cross with dogs or they’re all just wild dogs.

[03:06:26] Zali: So this was incredible because it then showed that there are actually pure dingoes existing in Victoria still, in the wild.

Dr Kylie Cairns and Dingo Genetics

[03:12:05] Intrepid World: Excellent. And yeah, I noticed you mentioned the purity of dingo DNA and things like that. There is a lady that’s working closely with the Dingo Sanctuary at the moment, isn’t there, to do a study based on DNA and genetics — dingo genetics. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

[03:29:24] Zali: Yeah, absolutely. So Dr. Kylie Cairns, she’s a really amazing person and is doing a lot for the dingo. She’s doing some really incredible and unique research looking at dingo genetics. There is no one else in the world that can do quite what Dr. Kyle Cairns does. And so when we get new dingoes at the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary that are rescues, we get the DNA test sent off to Kylie Cairns to be done and she’ll let us know whether or not they’re pure dingoes. The research that she’s doing is so vital because as I was saying, we get told there are no pure dingoes left but we’ve actually learned from her research, that’s not the case at all.

[04:04:03] Zali: There’s plenty of pure dingoes still surviving. And what’s really sad about that is that they’re just being controlled, shot and baited in national parks and on private property as well. So if we find out that they are pure dingoes, we can stop that from happening because they are actually a native Australian animal, not a pest.

(Find out about Rusty and Jalba’s DNA tests here.)

The Australian Dingo Foundation

[04:25:19] Intrepid World: So we’ve been walking the boys for a little bit and they wanted to have a little bit of a rest in the shade. So I thought this would be a great opportunity to sit down with you both and ask what is the purpose of the Australian Dingo Foundation?

[04:37:11] Zali: Yeah, so, The Australian Dingo Foundation has The Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and Research Centre where we do have dingoes on site, the Foundation has three main goals, so that’s education, which we’re trying to help out with, non-invasive research. We actually have researchers coming all the way from Yale University in America to come and do cognitive research on the dingoes. And then the last one is preservation of pure dingoes.

[04:58:05] Zali: So we do actually have breeding dingoes at the sanctuary as well.

[05:02:11] Intrepid World: So you mentioned breeding dingoes at the Sanctuary. Do the cubs head out to zoos and nature parks around the country, around the world? How does that work?

[05:12:01] Zali: Yeah, that’s right. So the zoos and fauna parks have to put their orders in before the breeding season starts and then we’ll just breed dingoes for those locations throughout Australia.

[05:21:09] Intrepid World: And how often do dingoes breed?

[05:23:08] Zali: Only once a year. So unlike domestic dogs they only have one annual breeding cycle, so most cubs are usually born in winter.

[05:29:22] Intrepid World: Okay, so if you’ve been to a zoo in Australia, there’s a good chance you might have seen a dingo at the location where you are that has come from the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary, which is run by the Australian Dingo Foundation.

[05:42:24] Zali: Yeah. Yep, absolutely.

[05:44:18] Intrepid World: So how long has the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary been around for and who runs that sanctuary?

[05:49:09] Zali: Yeah. So Lyn Watson is the founder. She’s a really incredible person. She actually founded it with her late husband Peter, and the work that she does is just so integral to dingo conservation. She’s one of the leading dingo conservationists around Australia and she’s had dingoes for, I think, 20 plus years now. Yeah, a long time.

[06:07:13] Intrepid World: And you have what, 40 plus dingoes at the sanctuary?

[06:19:29] Zali: We do. Yeah.

Research at the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and Research Centre

[06:20:05 Intrepid World: Yeah. And you mentioned just now about Yale, you have some scientists that come out from Yale. I remember when we were talking back at my place, you were talking about the cognitive research side of things. Could you go into this a little bit more?

[06:22:00] Intrepid World: What have they been doing with the dingoes to test their intelligence?

[06:24:24] Zali: Yeah, I find this really interesting and really fun to talk about. So Yale University at the Canine Cognitive Lab, they usually are only testing domestic dogs and I think they might have done some studies on wolves as well, comparing dogs and wolves, but they also come out and study the dingoes and see how they compare to domestic dogs. And they have actually come out and said that dingoes are the smartest canids they’ve ever tested, which is really cool.

[06:45:17] Zali: So that would mean that dingoes are the smartest canid in the world. Pretty awesome. One of the studies that they do is a puzzle, so it’s a three part puzzle and the aim is to get a treat out of the end of it. I’m pretty sure it’s a rope, a lever and then lifting up the last part of the puzzle —

[06:58:14] Intrepid World: The trap door —

[06:59:11] Zali: to get the treat and domestic dogs actually couldn’t do this by themselves. They actually needed a bit of coaxing by the owners and they definitely couldn’t do it the first time they saw the puzzle, to actually complete it and get the treat. Our dingoes could do it by themselves, they didn’t need any coaxing whatsoever. They’re also at a sanctuary, they’re outside all the time, they’ve never seen anything like the puzzle before.

[07:19:04] Zali: Like I think it’s made out of fibre glass or something that they haven’t seen before, and even then they can solve it straight away. And on top of that, one of our really smart dingoes, she actually solved it in something like 30 seconds, so really, really incredible, really smart animals.

[07:30:27] Intrepid World: Yeah. And you also mentioned that one of the dingoes did part of the puzzle, walked away, went to the bathroom, came back and then completed the sequence.

[07:37:09] Zali: Yep. That was this same really smart dingo.

[07:38:20] Intrepid World: It kind of shows their memory span is quite good as well.

[07:41:15] Zali: Yeah. Yeah. So she will even be distracted with something and still just solve it within a short amount of time.

[07:47:24] Intrepid World: Yeah. That’s all wonderful information. Thanks for that. I think because it’s really hot right now. I might take Elliott over into the lake, let the dingoes cool down a bit and ask him a couple of questions about what it’s like to work at the Dingo Sanctuary. 

Volunteering at The Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and Research Centre

Intrepid World: So we’ve had an opportunity to go over a few things. Right now Elliott and I are out in the lake, I thought it would be a good opportunity for the dingoes to have a forage and sniff around and a play fight.

[08:14:18] Intrepid World: But yeah, I wanted to ask about maintenance and upkeep. What kind of work will volunteers be doing? Is there a lot of fixing and things like that? You know, do they look for labourers that can help with repairs? Or do you already have volunteers to do that?

[08:27:01] Elliott: Yeah. So basically we do have a couple of full time volunteers that dedicate their time each and every week. Their names are Paul and Gail, they do a tremendous effort back at home, so shout out. But yeah, they’re doing anything between lawn maintenance and everything and garden care to repairing fences and pens, enclosures and stuff because the dingoes’ natural behaviour at the end of the day is very cheeky.

[08:50:15] Elliott: So they’re constantly getting into digging holes and everything, so that’s just what they do. They are den animals at the end of the day, to prevent them from getting out. We do have to cover up some of those holes and prevent them getting away.

[09:05:02] Intrepid World: Okay. Excellent. All right. So if you are thinking about volunteering, there’s no reason why you can’t look into it. And there’s obviously going to be a wide variety of activities for the volunteers from, I guess, looking after the animals directly to also, you know, helping with maintenance and general care of the property as well. So maybe, maybe check out their website and I’ll leave a description or a link in the description below and see how that works out for everybody.

[09:49:18] Intrepid World: What is it?

[09:51:22] Intrepid World: What is it? Rusty!?

How to become a volunteer at The Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and Research Centre

[09:55:22] Intrepid World: Back to Zali. If you wanted to be a volunteer. So I imagine there’s quite a few people that are watching the content that you’re creating about dingoes on The Dingo Channel and it might be sparking their interest like, ooh, I wouldn’t mind volunteering and working with dingo puppies and things like that. Is there any kind of education that they need to have prior to becoming a volunteer?

[10:31:24] Zali: Yeah, whilst education, especially in wildlife conservation and science, is heavily regarded, it’s not essential. It’s heavily regarded because of course that means your passion is conserving the species, which is a big plus, but you don’t actually have to have a degree or all that kind of background to volunteer. The most important things are that the dingoes trust you, that you can be a regular volunteer, so if you can just go at least once a week.

[10:54:23] Zali: Also that you can get yourself to and from the Sanctuary. You have to be eighteen.

Interview with the dingoes

[10:58:11] Intrepid World: Do you have to have an interview?

[11:03:15] Zali: Yes. So the interview is not what you might think. It’s not actually with the founder or the manager, it’s actually with the dingoes.

[11:11:00] Intrepid World: So the dingoes interview. Yeah. So hang on, how’s that work? Do they come into an office and sit down with you behind a desk and start asking questions, like how does that work? Yes, that was a silly question.

[11:22:21] Zali: Yeah, so, because dingoes are quite wary around strangers and they pick up a lot about people, we want them to be comfortable with new volunteers. So what that means is before someone starts, they just go through and walk past all the dingoes when they’re in a safe place in the natural home at the sanctuary. And then the founder, because she knows the individual dingoes really really well, she’ll pick up if they’re not sure about you or if they really like you.

[11:44:03] Zali: And so if they approve, then you get to volunteer.

[11:46:10] Intrepid World: So is there any kind of body language that they show when, you know, like how does she determine whether they like you or not?

[11:52:14] Zali: Yeah. So there’s some dingoes that are really confident and some that are shy anyway. So quite a few will shy away from people regardless of whether they’re going to be comfortable in the long run. So Lyn will look out for really specific behaviours from the dingoes, if it’s unusual for the individual, if that makes sense.

[12:08:09] Zali: So basically we have an ambassador dingo, like Pumba, who is really, really confident. He’s obviously not going to show, or shy away from people who really like them and we’ve got others that would naturally sort of huff, which they do when they’re being cautious.

Dingo behaviour

[12:20:18] Intrepid World: Yes, I noticed. I’m just going to kind of change the camera angle down here a little bit. I’ll get Jalba in the camera shot here. All right. So I noticed that when Elliott and Zali came over today, Jalba here, was chuffing. And I know people might see that as a sign of aggression, but it’s actually just them being a little bit scared.

[12:44:07] Intrepid World: Is that right?

[12:44:28] Zali: That’s right. We normally see that they chuff without making too much noise because they’re probably warning their family members or their partner that there’s danger around. That’s what we’re thinking. But yeah, basically a bit of a chuff or a snuff just means they’re not sure about this person. They might be uncomfortable.

[12:57:19] Intrepid World: Okay. So after about 20 minutes, though, both of these guys were quite comfortable with Elliott and Zali. As you can see, they’ve been walking them on lead and they’re both already adjusted and comfortable. Like, is that typical? Like dingo behaviour? Do they all, you know, become accustomed and comfortable with people straight away or do some of them still show shyness and caution?

[13:23:14] Zali: Yeah. So at the sanctuary, there’s probably 3 to 5 dingoes that are really comfortable around people straight away. The rest of the dingoes, naturally, are just quite shy and wary. Sometimes it can take 20 minutes or an hour, sometimes it can take months or over a year before they start trusting people.

[13:39:29] Intrepid World: And I think Elliott was saying that a couple of the dingoes are still kind of shy around you. Is that correct?

[13:41:00] Elliott: Yeah. Correct, it’s just part of their character.

[13:46:22] Intrepid World: And how long have you or how long were you volunteering at the sanctuary?

[13:49:17] Elliott: Well, for example, we’ve been there for four years now. Yeah, but for example, with that is the dingo that I sponsored back at home. He — I tried my best to kind of win his acceptance. So I just kind of go into the paddock with him every day I was there and and just try and get him as comfortable as possible.

[14:09:29] Intrepid World: Okay.

[14:10:08] Elliott: So it wasn’t until eighteen months later that he actually built up the courage enough to come and give me a little kiss on the cheek. 

[14:18:15] Intrepid World: I think there’s actually video footage of a dingo kissing you on the cheek. Is that is that, was that? Oh, it’s him. Oh, you got that on camera. That’s awesome. Okay, so that’s something. 

Sponsoring a dingo at The Dingo Discovery Sanctuary and Research Centre

[14:39:02] Intrepid World: One thing we didn’t talk about that you’ve just mentioned is sponsoring a dingo. Can you sponsor dingoes at the —

[14:43:09] Elliott: Yeah, correct. Because of the organisation being non non-profit. Yeah, we welcome sponsors and we have little care packages, they get some photographs of the dingoes, and the monthly updates.

[14:57:16] Intrepid World: Oh excellent, beautiful. And they can check on their progress and see how they’re doing. Yeah. And do they get any kind of idea as to what their contribution goes towards? Like it would go towards feeding and just the general upkeep, veterinary bills, I imagine.

[15:11:13] Zali: Yeah. Yeah. Vet bills, maintaining the enclosures. Yeah. Making the Sanctuary grounds nice, keeping the dingoes happy and well-fed.

[15:19:15] Intrepid World: Okay, cool. Oh, that’s awesome. So if anybody out there is thinking that, you know, sponsoring a dingo, would be something fun and interesting for their kids. I mean, it’d be a great way for your kids to start learning about dingoes. Then by all means, check out the Dingo Discovery… Is it the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary?

[15:40:01] Zali: Yeah, the Sanctuary. And then online you can look up the Australian Dingo Foundation, they’re the organisation which runs the Sanctuary.

[15:46:01] Intrepid World: Okay. And there’s information on the website about adopting dingoes.

[15:52:05] Zali: Yeah absolutely.

[15:52:28] Intrepid World: Yeah, I’ll put a link in the description below. (Here it is https://dingofoundation.org/).  

[15:59:29] Intrepid World: Well we’ve had an opportunity to walk around for a little bit now with the dingoes to take them into the lake and to talk about what it’s like to work as a volunteer at the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary.

[16:08:16] Intrepid World: But I was wondering, what kind of plans do you guys have for the future with The Dingo Channel?

[16:13:09] Elliott: Yeah, so, basically, as we continue our travels around Australia, we’ve decided to expand The Dingo Channel as a whole and by doing this during our travels, we’re going to be reaching out to landcare groups and community groups and even schools to help better educate the public about the importance of these apex predators on our ecosystems.

[16:34:13] Intrepid World: I think that’s wonderful. So if you’re a schoolteacher or you run a community group and you’re interested in learning more about dingoes and the wonderful apex predators that they are, please reach out to The Dingo Channel and they can come down and they can talk to you guys in person and share more information with you about dingoes. I’ve been with them now for a few hours and I’ve learnt so much already.

[16:57:00] Intrepid World: It’s been wonderful. So I have one more question for both of you and I didn’t talk about this one with you back at my place so it might kind of catch you out a little bit, but this is just for a little bit of fun. So I noticed, as I’ve been following you both on your trip around Australia and seeing some of the comments below, that your co-workers seem to be missing you greatly.

[17:19:09] Intrepid World: So do you ever think in the future there will be a pair of dingoes at the sanctuary called Elliott and Zali?

[17:27:22] Zali: I don’t know…

[17:30:13] Intrepid World: Elliott and Zali the dingo, I think it’s got a nice ring to it. So thank you again. Thank you so much for responding to my message when I reached out. I really appreciate it for my first collaborative video. I’ve had a lot of fun and I look forward to helping you with your video. So as I wrap things up, I just want to say check out The Dingo Channel because we’re going to be doing a video for them as well.

[17:54:15] Intrepid World: And I’ll see you all next time.

[17:56:04] Zali: Thanks guys!

[17:56:11] Elliott: See ya!

The Dingo Channel interview with Intrepid World 

Here’s my interview with The Dingo Channel, “Living with Dingoes | A first time Dingo carer shares his experience”.

Want to know more about dingoes?

If you’re keen to know more about Australian dingoes, comment below or contact me here. Let me know what you want to know and I’ll answer your questions. 

You can learn about the Australian Dingo Foundation here, where they also have links to research conducted with their dingoes. 

You can find The Dingo Channel on YouTube, where you’ll find videos about dingo history, dingo colours and ecotypes, you’ll find out why dingoes are important. and one of my favourites, “Not a dog, a dingo: How the dingo is different to our domestic dog.” You can watch The Dingo Channel’s video here:

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