![]() ![]() Most preferred prey is hunted by individual dogs but when prey availability changes, wild dogs will form packs to hunt larger prey such as cattle and kangaroos. This explains why some wild dogs are mostly seen as individuals. Members of a social group meet and separate over time or rely on vocal communication. Individual home ranges vary from 400 to 100,000 ha, averaging about 4000Ha in size in eastern NSW and up to 90,000 ha in dry western environments.Īs could be expected, areas with the greatest food sources and key water points within home ranges are used most frequently and others parts may be rarely visited. Each member of the group occupies a home range which overlaps with those of other wild dogs to various extents. Behaviour Social structure and home ranges Domestic livestock can constitute a portion of the wild dogs' diet in agricultural areas but common prey items include small to medium-sized animals such as wallabies, rabbits, possums, wombats, echidnas, birds, reptiles, rodents and other small mammals. Food habits vary between locations and seasons, for example, wild dogs will eat fruit and plaguing insects when available. Wild dogs mostly eat fresh meat and carrion. Wild dogs live in a wide variety of habitats and prefer areas where human disturbance is limited and where shelter, food and water is abundant. Weights of adult wild dogs generally range from 11 to 25kg for males and 7 to 22kg for females. Wild dogs are predominately golden or yellow but can also be white, black, black and tan, brown, brindle, patchy and any combination of these. The wild dog is highly adaptable and may live successfully in arid to rainforest environments, providing there is an adequate supply of food, water and shelter. Increasingly, wild dogs are found close to towns where they intermingle with local dogs and can become mis-identified as 'strays'. Wild dogs are found across NSW, however, the eastern ranges, the coastal hinterland and tablelands have the highest populations. Wild dogs were first introduced to Australia approximately 3,500 to 4,000 years ago, probably by Asian seafarers who landed regularly on northern Australia. Ronald Oldham, a Federal Aviation Administration representative in Kansas City, said it was ″highly improbable″ that an airplane as large as the president’s would suffer much damage from hitting a dog, but he said it ″certainly wouldn’t do the dog any good.Wild dogs are a 'declared pest animal' under the Local Land Services Act 2013 and are defined as: 'any dog, including a dingo, that is, or has become wild, but excludes any dog kept in accordance with the Companion Animals Act 1998, the Exhibited Animals Protection Act 1986, or the Animal Research Act 1985 or any legislation made in replacement of any of those Acts'. Had he not ordered his men to shoot the dogs, Hancock said, Air Force One probably would have gone on to Washington instead of stopping in Topeka, ″And then how would’ve people felt?″ Hancock said there had been anonymous death threats to him, his family and his dog, a Siberian Husky, since the story was reported locally and in The Nation, a New York-based magazine. He said there was not enough time to move the dogs or spray water on them before the plane landed.Ī person working in the Forbes tower who saw the incident said about an hour passed between the beating and the shooting, according to Audrey McCaig, executive director of Helping Hands Humane Society in Topeka.Įlaine Maack, who lives on 80 acres adjacent to Forbes Field, said her two Australian shepherds, Lady and Speck, have been missing since Labor Day weekend. Hancock described the dogs as a ″threat to the president’s life,″ and said they might have run onto the pavement and interfered with the jet. The bodies were carted off in plastic bags and burned. Alf Landon, who died last week.Īcting on orders from the Secret Service to secure the area, the officers first beat the dogs with heavy welding gloves to separate them, and when that failed, shot the dogs, Hancock said. Reagan was participating in the celebration of the 100th birthday of former Gov. ![]() 6 just before Reagan was scheduled to arrive in Air Force One. Hancock said airport security officers were inspecting the grounds Sept. Buchholz, special agent in charge of the Secret Service in the Kansas City office. ″We were not involved in the dog incident at all,″ said Douglas W. ″We were told anything that moves has to be removed.″Ī Secret Service spokesman said officials ordered security officers at Forbes Field to ″take care of the problem,″ but he said he did not know shooting the dogs was going to be the solution. ″We did what we had to do,″ said Marvin Hancock, deputy director of the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority. (AP) _ Two dogs mating near an airport runway were killed last month by security officers who were told to secure the area prior to a visit by President Reagan.
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