Practice Session: The dingo discourse

A A plane flies a slow pattern over Carlton Hill station, a 3,600 square kilometre ranch in the Kimberley region in northwest Australia. As the plane circles, those aboard drop 1,000 small pieces of meat, one by one, onto the scrubland below, each piece laced with poison; this practice is known as baiting.

In addition to 50,000 head of cattle, Carlton Hill harbors the dingo, Australia’s largest mammalian predator and a constant challenge for ranchers. Stuart McKechnie, manager of Carlton Hill, voices concerns over the threat posed to ranchers' livelihoods when dingoes attack cattle. However, there is a call from one individual to cease baiting and allow dingoes to once again freely roam Australia’s expansive landscapes. According to Chris Johnson of James Cook University, ‘Australia requires more dingoes to safeguard our biodiversity.’

B About 4,000 years ago, Asian sailors introduced dingoes to Australia. Throughout the ensuing millennia, these descendants of the wolf spread across the continent and, as the Tasmanian tiger disappeared completely from Australia, dingoes became Australia’s top predators. As agricultural development took place, the European settlers found that they could not safely keep their livestock where dingoes roamed. So began one of the most sustained efforts at pest control in Australia’s history. Over the last 150 years, dingoes have been shot and poisoned, and fences have been used in an attempt to keep them away from livestock. But at the same time, as the European settlers tried to eliminate one native pest from Australia, they introduced more of their own.

C In 1860, the rabbit was unleashed on Australia by a wealthy landowner and by 1980 rabbits had covered most of the mainland. Rabbits provide a huge prey base for two other introduced species: the feral (wild) cat and the red fox.

The Relationship between foxes, cats, and rabbits represents a significant issue for native mammals. During favorable years, rabbit populations surge, prompting rapid increases in fox and cat numbers due to the abundance of prey. Subsequent lean seasons lead to a notable reduction in rabbit numbers – leaving the still substantial fox and cat populations with scarce options besides native mammals.

D Australian mammals generally reproduce much more slowly than rabbits, cats and foxes – and adaption to prevent overpopulation in the arid environment, where food can be scarce and unreliable – and populations decline because they can’t grow fast enough to replace animals killed by the predators. Johnson says dingoes are the solution to this problem because they keep cat and fox populations under control. Besides regularly eating the smaller predators, dingoes will kill them simply to lessen competition.

Dingo packs inhabit extensive, stable territories and typically have only one breeding female, which restricts their population growth rate. According to Johnson, in the 4,000 years that dingoes have inhabited Australia, they have been implicated in few, if any, extinctions.

E Reaching out from a desolate spot where three states meet, for 2,500 km in either direction, is the world’s longest fence, two metres high and stretching from the coast in Queensland to the Great Australian Bight in South Australia; it is there to keep dingoes out of southeast, the fence separates the main types of livestock found in Australia. To the northwest of the fence, cattle predominate; to the southwest, sheep fill the landscape. In fact, Australia is a land dominated by these animals – 25 million cattle, 100 million sheep and just over 20 million people.

F While there is no argument that dingoes will prey on sheep if given the chance, they don’t hunt cattle once the calves are much past two or three weeks old, according to McKechnie. And a study in Queensland suggests that dingoes don’t even prey heavily on the newborn calves unless their staple prey disappears due to deteriorating conditions like drought.

This research, co-authored by Lee Alien from the Robert Wicks Research Centre in Queensland, indicates that the aggressive baiting programs used against dingoes may actually backfire for graziers. When dingoes are eliminated from an area through baiting, the area is repopulated by younger, more solitary dingoes. These animals cannot hunt larger prey like kangaroos effectively and therefore resort to targeting calves. Their study found that some of the highest rates of calf predation occurred in areas subjected to baiting.

G Mark Clifford, general manager of a firm that manages over 200,000 head of cattle, is not convinced by Allen’s assertion. Clifford says, ‘It’s obvious if we drop or loosen control on dingoes, we are going to lose more calves.’ He doesn’t believe that dingoes will go after kangaroos when calves are around. Nor is he persuaded of dingoes’ supposed ecological benefits, saying he is not convinced that they manage to catch cats that often, believing they are more likely to catch small native animals instead.

H McKechnie agrees that dingoes kill the wallabies (small native animals) that compete with his cattle for food, but points out that in parts of Westers Australia, there are no fixes, and not very many cats. He doesn’t see how relaxing controls on dingoes in his area will improve the ecological balance.

Johnson believes there is a need for a shift in mindset among graziers. 'There could be various approaches to reconsidering dingo management in cattle regions,' he suggests. 'However, at present, this perspective hasn't yet permeated among graziers. The predominant approach remains widespread baiting as the sole solution.'

Questions 1-7

Reading Passage has eight sections, A-H.

Which sections contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

1 a description of a barrier designed to stop dingoes, which also divides two kinds of non-natives animals

2 how dingoes ensure that rival species do not dominate

3 a reference to a widespread non-native species that other animals feed on

4 a mention of the dingo’s arrival in Australia

5 research which has proved that dingoes have resorted to eating young livestock

6 a description of a method used to kill dingoes

7 the way that the structure of dingo groups affects how quickly their numbers grow

Questions 8-10

Look at the following statements (Questions 8-10) and the list of people below.

Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, c or D.

Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 8-10 on your answer sheet.

8 Dingoes tend to hunt native animals rather than hunting other non-native predators.

9 The presence of dingoes puts the income of some people at risk.

10 Dingoes have had little impact on the dying out of animal species in Australia.

List of Individuals 

A Stuart McKechnie

B Chris Johnson 

C Lee Allen

D Mark Clifford 

Questions 11-13

Complete the sentences below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.

11. The dingo replaced the 11…  as the main predatory animal in Australia.

12. Foxes and cats are more likely to hunt native animals when there are fewer 12…

13. Australian animals reproduce at a slow rate as a natural way of avoiding 13…

Answers

1. B (Đoạn B, “ Throughout the ensuing millennia, these descendants of the wolf spread across the continent and, as the Tasmanian tiger disappeared completely from Australia, dingoes became Australia’s top predators.”)

2. D (Đoạn D, “ Besides regularly eating the smaller predators, dingoes will kill them simply to lessen competition.”)

3. C (Đoạn C, “Rabbits provide huge prey base for two other introduced species: the feral (wild) cat and the red fox.”)

4. B (Đoạn B, “About 4,000 years ago, Asian sailors introduced dingoes to Australia.”)

5. F (Đoạn F, “And a study in Queensland suggests that dingoes don’t even prey heavily on the newborn calves unless their staple prey disappears due to deteriorating conditions like drought.”)

6. A (Đoạn A, “As the plane circles, those aboard drop 1,000 small pieces of meat, one by one, onto the scrubland below, each piece laced with poison”)

7. D (Đoạn D, “and adaption to prevent overpopulation in the arid environment, where food can be scarce and unreliable – and populations decline because they can’t grow fast enough to replace animals killed by the predators.”)

8. D (Đoạn G, “…saying he is not convinced that they manage to catch cats that often, believing they are more likely to catch small native animals instead.”)

9. A (Đoạn A, “Stuart McKechnie, manager of Carlton Hill, complains that graziers’ livelihoods are threatened when dingoes prey on cattle.”)

10. B (Đoạn D, “ In the 4,000 years that dingoes have been Australia, they have contributed to few, if any, extinctions, Johnsons says.”)

11. Tasmanian tiger (Đoạn B, “Tasmanian tiger disappeared completely from Australia, dingoes became Australia’s top predators.”)

12. Rabbits (Đoạn C, “In good years, rabbit numbers increase dramatically, and fox and cat populations grow quickly in response to the abundance of this prey.