Australian dingoes are the continent's largest terrestrial predator, playing a keystone ecological role, but face persecution through baiting and exclusion fencing that affects both their welfare and ecosystem health.
Dingo welfare is almost entirely unprotected by law in most of Australia, leaving them subject to trapping, shooting, and baiting with no welfare constraints in many jurisdictions. The ecological cost of dingo removal - mesopredator release of feral cats and foxes, overgrazing by kangaroos - demonstrates that killing dingoes creates broader ecosystem welfare harms for native wildlife. Conservation approaches that use livestock protection dogs and guardian alpacas reduce predation pressure without lethal dingo control, protecting both dingo welfare and livestock.