The Rise Of The Underdog Luke The Dingo Trembaths Journey To The Top

Working With Dingos in Rural Environments: What Actually Happens

There is a guy named Luke Trembath who does a lot of content about dingos and living near them. I follow his work because it comes up on my radar when I look into how people in remote areas handle coyote and dingo conflicts. His videos and posts touch on fencing, livestock protection, baiting programs, and the general frustration of dealing with apex predators that refuse to stay out of properties where they are unwelcome. What stands out in his material is not the dramatic hero narrative you see pushed around by some channels. It is mostly about repeated failures, trial and error with exclusion fencing, and the reality that most landholders underspecify their boundary barriers. Luke has shown a number of different installation approaches over the years. The one he returns to repeatedly is a combination of solid mesh at the base, a wire apron buried or laid flat, and an electric ribbon or wire on the inside. That setup does not guarantee zero breaches, but it raises the barrier enough that dingos move elsewhere rather than test it every night. I have dealt with this kind of situation myself on a few properties. The edge case that breaks most plans is not a large dog jumping a high fence. It is a young dingo working a soft section where the soil is sandy or recently disturbed by rain, digging under the mesh and coming through below the electric line. I resolved it in one place by extending the apron outward at least 60 centimetres and weighting it with soil and stones so the animal cannot lift it while digging. You also have to check after heavy rain. The ground settles, the apron lifts slightly, and suddenly you have an entry point that was sealed a week earlier.

Practical Details Most People Skip

When you read about dingo control online, the advice tends to fall into three camps. One camp says lethal control is the only solution. Another says non-lethal exclusion is enough. A third camp exists between those two and usually involves a mix. The mix is what most landholders actually end up doing, and it is also what makes the system fragile. You can install good exclusion fencing and then fail on maintenance. You can run a baiting program and then overlook a neighbor's property that becomes a re-entry corridor. You can shoot problem individuals and then watch a new set of dispersing juveniles move in from adjacent habitat. Here is a counter-intuitive point that beginners miss. Removing the dominant breeding pair from a social group does not solve the problem on your land. It usually makes it worse. dingos are territorial and a vacant territory gets contested by neighboring groups. Young males disperse, females move, and the area you tried to clear becomes a transit zone instead of an empty zone. If your goal is protection, you need the physical barrier to do the work. Baiting and culling are supplemental at best, and they must be coordinated across a wide area to matter. Another nuance that is easy to miss is the seasonal shift in behavior. During pupping season, which varies by region but often runs from late winter into early summer depending on climate, adult dingos become more aggressive near den sites. That means perimeter fencing takes on added importance because adults will test it more aggressively. If you have livestock on the property, you also need to adjust calving and lambing placement. Keep vulnerable stock away from dense cover near the boundary during that window. The animals are not randomly aggressive. They are protecting a location.

Fencing Specifications That Actually Hold Up

A standard livestock wire mesh at 900 millimetres is insufficient for determined dingos. The mesh should be no larger than 50 millimetres at the base, with the overall height at least 1200 millimetres and preferably higher in known problem corridors. The wire should be galvanised. Non-galvanised wire fails in coastal and high-rainfall zones within two to three years, and then you are replacing sections instead of maintaining them. The electric component is not optional if you want this to work long term. A single hot wire at about 100 millimetres above the ground and another at knee height on the inside of the fence is a minimum. Two or three lines spaced properly improve deterrence. The energiser needs to be rated for the length of fence it is powering. A small 0.1-joule unit on a two-kilometre boundary is a common mistake that results in a weak pulse and animals that learn to ignore it quickly.

What Does Not Work

I will list a few things plainly because I see them repeated constantly and they cause people to waste money. The single biggest factor in whether dingo pressure decreases on your land is whether your neighbors are doing the same thing. A well-fenced property surrounded by unfenced properties is just a fun house for wildlife. The animals learn the pattern and use the weak points on adjacent land to reach yours. Talk to the people next door. Share costs for shared boundaries where possible. Join or form a local coordination group if one does not already exist. Local government areas in Queensland and parts of New South Wales sometimes have dingo management committees that can help with baiting schedules and data sharing. Data sharing is not a buzzword here. If you log each breach, note the location, time, and method of entry, you start to see patterns. The same section of fence may fail every wet season because of runoff. The same gap near a drainage line may be used consistently by the same individuals. That information changes where you spend your money instead of spreading it evenly across the whole boundary.

Alternatives When Physical Barriers Are Not Possible

Not every property can be fenced. Large pastoral leases and conservation reserves face that reality. In those cases, the options narrow. Livestock guardian dogs can help, but they require proper training and commitment. They are not a set-and-forget tool. If you bring in a dog without acclimatizing it to the livestock first, it will either ignore the stock or treat them as prey. Both outcomes are bad. Fladry, which is a line of flags or strips attached to a boundary fence, has shown some promise in deterring movement along specific corridors. The effect is temporary and weather-dependent, so it is best used as a seasonal supplement rather than a primary system. I have seen it reduce crossing attempts by a noticeable margin on trial stretches, but it requires renewal and inspection after wind events.

Final Notes On What To Expect

If you implement solid exclusion fencing with a proper electric setup and maintain it through seasonal changes, you can reduce encounter rates significantly. I would estimate a reduction of 60 to 80 percent in most rural settings within the first season, assuming the rest of the boundary is serviceable. Expect ongoing maintenance. Check the fence after every significant weather event. Replace damaged mesh immediately. Keep the electric lines clean of vegetation. A single touched wire shorts the circuit and renders the whole section ineffective until someone notices. There is no permanent fix. Dingos persist. The goal is management, not elimination. The content produced by Luke Trembath reflects that reality better than most sensational coverage does. It shows the failures, the adjustments, and the slow accumulation of practical knowledge that comes from repeated exposure. If you are dealing with this yourself, start with a proper boundary audit, identify the weak sections, and invest in fencing and electricity rather than looking for a quick lethal fix. The longer-term costs are lower and the results are more stable.