{"id":113025,"date":"2015-07-04T01:01:33","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T15:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=113025"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:08:11","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T02:08:11","slug":"uni-students-lend-a-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/07\/04\/uni-students-lend-a-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"Uni Students Lend A Hand"},"content":{"rendered":"
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University students Ellisha Strazan-Burrows, from the Gold Coast; Stacey Ashton, from Willowbank; and Kaitlin Crocker, from Gatton, with “Honey”, the dingo who caused all the fuss by unexpectedly giving birth to four white pups … she has now been desexed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The students gained valuable experience handling captive animals …\u00a0\u00a0Stacey Ashton assists with re-locating a stubborn “Honey”\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

July 4, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some of the Durong Dingo Sanctuary’s immediate fencing problems have been solved … thanks to fundraising, generous donations and the help of a bunch of eager young volunteers.<\/p>\n

Sanctuary owner “Dingo Simon” said Global Engineering and Construction in Kingaroy – the company hired by Moreton Resources to remove some of the above-ground infrastructure at the old Cougar Energy underground coal gasification site at Coolabunia – had donated 850 fence posts, 2.5km of fencing, 9km of barbed wire and 6km of plain wire to the Sanctuary.<\/p>\n

Simon urgently needed the fencing to satisfy the requirements of Biosecurity Queensland that he build five new enclosures to separate his animals during the breeding season.<\/p>\n

This followed the surprise birth of four white dingo pups last year by Honey, a dingo which was previously thought to have fertility problems.<\/p>\n

Simon had to organise the removal of the fencing items from the UCG site and its transportation to Durong, which cost an estimated $3000.<\/p>\n

And at the other end, he faced the problem of construction.<\/p>\n

That’s where the students from the University of Queensland lent a hand.<\/p>\n

A team of four Third Year Applied Science students, majoring in wildlife science and completing a Certificate IV in Captive Animals, have just completed a five-day stint at the sanctuary.<\/p>\n

They have been helping Simon to build enclosures, erect fence posts, strain wire, lay concrete slabs as well as gaining a heap of experience handling dingos.<\/p>\n

They have also been helping to clean up the enclosures, ie picking up dingo poo.<\/p>\n

Despite this, they were all smiling when southburnett.com.au<\/strong> dropped in on Friday.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Hendry, from Berry in NSW, said he had been surprised by the difference in behaviour between dingoes and domesticated dogs.<\/p>\n

He said the dingoes had been inquisitive but wary; they were \u00a0not like a dog that would greet a visitor with a wagging tail.<\/p>\n

“They are more like a cat than anything else,” he said. “It has definitely been an eye-opener.”<\/p>\n

The students quickly became used to waking up in the mornings to the howls as the Sanctuary’s 18 pure-bred dingoes greeted a new day.<\/p>\n

“It was beautiful,” student Stacey Ashton said.<\/p>\n

Simon will have another four students from the same university course staying with him next week, which should mean all the new enclosures will be quickly completed.<\/p>\n

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