Maybe The Dingo Didn't Eat My Baby After All

[Aepervius]

That damn Dingo is at it again!

http://www.google.de/search?q=dingo...XAsjJsgaCrPjHBA&ved=0CDsQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=870


Yeah put him in prison !

 

[Aepervius]

For the benefit of those interested (and Scrut is not), the cause of death is undetermined.

But why do it with such a fanfare , and leave the people hanging for the results ? Rather than do the inquiry discretely and announce the results when they are ready ? Short of finding dingo saliva on the piece of clothing they found, I am not sure why a coroner is even necessary as they never found a body.

 

[lionking]

Coroners courts are open in Australia. A coroner can't conduct undertake an investigation undercover, and any party to the investigation is entitled to representation in court.

Coroners have very wide ranging judicial powers and aren't subject to police direction. They can decide to open cases in light of new evidence - which we have here.

 

[Rolfe]

First it's 'convicted murderer Amanda Knox', and now this. Is there any case where you can accept that somebody was wrongly convicted?

Hah, you have to remember that Scrut announced that Sarah Scazzi was "undoubtedly guilty".



Rolfe.

 

[aggle-rithm]

Yeah... you want to be the one to snag the 5 week old from ma?

On a serious note... they are a handsome breed.

My sister raised a couple of wolf hybrids, and I enjoyed being around them quite a bit.

Just don't leave an unattended baby around them...

 

[aggle-rithm]

Short of finding dingo saliva on the piece of clothing they found, I am not sure why a coroner is even necessary as they never found a body.

Which is exactly what you would expect when a dingo eats a baby. There wouldn't even be any bones left.

 

[WildCat]

I saw someone walking what looked suspiciously like a dingo recently. I had a chat to the guy, and it was. I had no idea it was legal to keep what is an Australian wolf as a pet, with a special permit.

But dingos are essentially feral dogs, aren't they? They were brought over as pets in the first place, I wouldn't compare them to wolves that way.

 

[Lamuella]

this hits close to home. My pet dingo was eaten by a pack of ravenous babies.

 

[Cleon]

this hits close to home. My pet dingo was eaten by a pack of ravenous babies.

We should really ban those things; they're dangerous. At the very least it should be illegal to have one that hasn't been fixed.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

No, they're not reopening the criminal case. The coronial inquest, which is not the same thing, returned an open verdict. They're now hoping to close it and formally be able to put a "cause of death" on Azaria's case.

Sounds like a terrific use of taxpayers money.

 

[Lamuella]

Sounds like a terrific use of taxpayers money.

Finding out what happened to a dead baby is such a waste.

 

[Damien Evans]

But dingos are essentially feral dogs, aren't they? They were brought over as pets in the first place, I wouldn't compare them to wolves that way.

No and no.

Dingos are Wild Dogs, not Feral, and are a different subspecies (Canis Lupis Dingo) to the domesticated dogs (Canis Lupis Familiaris).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-ranging_dog#Wild_dogs

Also, there is no consensus on why they were brought over, some say as food, others as guards. I've never heard anyone argue they were brought over as pets though. Dingos while genetically closer to domestic dogs than to wolves are behaviourally fairly similar to what you'd expect from lightly built Wolves given adaptations to the Australian landscape, where from the time Dingos came to Australia (roughly 5,000 bce) to when Europeans came the largest land animal was the Red Kangaroo, which is much smaller than the prey that can be found in the Grey Wolfs range.

It is possible to tame individual Dingos provided you get them young enough, but Dingos have never been domesticated on a large scale.

Incidentally, Dingos are legally native animals under The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) and in many parts of Australia cannot legally be harmed, for example they are a threatened protected species in Victoria and legally cannot be harmed, although if they're standing next to a Feral Dog you're well within your rights to shoot the other dog if it's on your land.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingo#Legal_status


To be honest the history of and legal status of Dingos are rather confusing.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

But dingos are essentially feral dogs, aren't they? They were brought over as pets in the first place, I wouldn't compare them to wolves that way.

Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to their wild Asian gray wolf parent species, Canis lupus. Since then, living largely apart from people and other dogs, together with the demands of Australian ecology, has caused them to develop features and instincts that distinguish them from all other canines. Dingoes have maintained ancient characteristics that unite them, along with their closest relatives from southeast Asia and the Pacific, into a taxon named after them, Canis lupus dingo, and which separate them from dogs classified as Canis lupus familiaris.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingo

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

No, they're not reopening the criminal case. The coronial inquest, which is not the same thing, returned an open verdict. They're now hoping to close it and formally be able to put a "cause of death" on Azaria's case.

Finding out what happened to a dead baby is such a waste.

I agree. We really, really, really need to know what happened to a baby who died 32 years ago.

Say, there was a baby here in the US who died under mysterious circumstances back in 1689. Do you think we should look into it?

 

[Damien Evans]

I agree. We really, really, really need to know what happened to a baby who died 32 years ago.

Say, there was a baby here in the US who died under mysterious circumstances back in 1689. Do you think we should look into it?

So you don't see any reason why we should properly close the book on what is probably the most famous disappearance in our history?

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

So you don't see any reason why we should properly close the book on what is probably the most famous disappearance in our history?

No. Cause you'll just reopen it again in another 30 years.

 

[anor277]

Double post, excuse me.

 

[anor277]

I agree. We really, really, really need to know what happened to a baby who died 32 years ago..................

Perhaps you should ask that question of Azaria Chamberlain's elder brothers (who were perhaps 4-6 years old at the time that their baby sister disappeared and were also present at the campsite)? Now, we know that the mother was falsely imprisoned, but the two brothers were also the subject of widespread and rampant suspicion (i.e. that one or both of them had killed the baby, and that their parents had conspired to cover it up). At the time of the inquests and later the trial, this suspicion was very common, and it must have followed the brothers throughout their childhood.

(The suspicion did end when top fuzz, Northern Territory, was interviewed about the case years later, and he said quite categorically and publicly that the two boys had nothing to do with their sister's disappearance. The two boys were doubtless interviewed exhaustively by the police - which is why a policeman could make such a statement).

 

[WildCat]

Also, there is no consensus on why they were brought over, some say as food, others as guards. I've never heard anyone argue they were brought over as pets though. Dingos while genetically closer to domestic dogs than to wolves are behaviourally fairly similar to what you'd expect from lightly built Wolves given adaptations to the Australian landscape, where from the time Dingos came to Australia (roughly 5,000 bce) to when Europeans came the largest land animal was the Red Kangaroo, which is much smaller than the prey that can be found in the Grey Wolfs range.

I should have used "domesticated" rather than "pets", but the point is they were domestic (or at least semi-domestic) before they went wild again, and thus already carry a suite of genes that makes them more amenable to domestication than wolves are.

And if you let different breeds of domestic dog randomly breed with each other eventually you end up with a mongrel that closely resembles a dingo in size, shape, and coloration.

Also, it isn't unheard of for hunter/gatherer groups to keep pets, for example they might kill a monkey for food but keep the baby monkey that was with it for a pet which they don't ever eat. Perhaps that's how wolves were first domesticated, with ones that became aggressive being killed or driven off while the mild-mannered ones are kept around to breed with other mild-mannered canids.

 

[marplots]

I wish I lived in a country where a 30 year old dead baby case was newsworthy.

We only do that with celebrities. I'm going to reread all the Lindbergh baby stuff for comfort now.