The killing of a man’s pet, has sparked outrage from Indigenous leaders about the treatment of their cultural animals.
As legend has it, there’s no bond closer than a man and his dog. But last week, a police officer decided to intervene in this sacred union, and within hours the dog was dead and the man’s partner was in tears.
Professional fisherman Liam Druery admits he’s had a colourful past, so when Queensland Police, eyed him across the street he wasn’t surprised. “I noticed a police car do a fast U-turn and I thought, here we go,” he told Yahoo News.
However, on this occasion, it was the appearance of his dog that sparked the trouble outside the post office in Weipa. The problem was it looked like a native dingo.
“My missus has gone in to get some packages, and I was standing out front by the ute with my dog. It was 36 degrees and he was hot and bothered, so I decided to just stay with him,” Druery added.
Why was Ernie the dog killed?
Two months ago, Druery saw an ad for an unwanted Kelpie X pup and took the animal home. Because it resembled a dingo, he named it Ernie in a nod to the actor.
Unfortunately for Ernie, in Queensland being a dingo is a dangerous business. Despite the animals being protected inside national parks, elsewhere the state government has declared them a biosecurity risk, and it’s illegal to move, keep, feed, give away, or sell one because the native species is seen as a threat to the multi-million dollar business of sheep farming.
