A Gold Coast influencer has caused havoc after posting a picture of herself letting a dingo sniff her hand on K’gari (formerly known as Fraser Island) in Queensland. The post has been widely criticised from all corners of the internet.
Zara Mander, who has a whopping 98,000 followers on Instagram, has since switched her account to “private” mode after she was called out for a bunch of photos she took on her visit.
The 21-year-old’s post remained online for just under a day before she removed it from the platform.
In one of the photos, she is seen crouching down while a dingo takes a big whiff of her hand.
The blowup follows a spate of similar incidents where people haven’t quite clocked that dingoes are, for the 1000th time, NOT DOGS.
In fact, in April it was discovered that dingo DNA is actually halfway between that of dogs and wolves.
So please, do NOT go patting wild doggy-lookin’ things. This isn’t Twilight.
“I will be reporting you,” one critic commented on Zara’s post, per the Daily Mail.
“Stay off the island dickhead,” said another fiery response.
“People like you are ruining it for everyone else,” added a third.
Back in July, fines were dished out to K’gari tourists for taking up-close and personal selfies with the wild animals.
The photos are genuinely horrifying for anyone who knows anything about what dingoes are capable of.
A 29-year-old from New South Wales and a 25-year-old from Queensland received fines of $2,300 each from QLD’s Department of Environment and Science (DES) for their efforts.
Hope the pics were worth it!!!
Save Fraser Island Dingoes, an organisation set up to ensure the conservation of the species, told Queensland’s Courier Mail that these incidents of rule-breaking aren’t isolated.
“Unfortunately some people feel they are entitled to do as they please without any consideration for the environment and consequences their actions may have,” a spokesperson told the publication.
“We ask that anyone who witnesses people feeding, enticing or harassing the dingoes report it to the authorities.”
They are encouraging anyone who has witnessed a deliberate dingo interaction to report it to 07 4127 9150 or email dingo.ranger@des.qld.gov.au.
