2025: A Year in Review

As the year draws to a close, I want to take a moment to reflect on what Big Desert Dingo Research has undertaken over the past twelve months. It has truly been an exciting but also devastating year.

This year alone, we travelled more than 22,000 kilometres for dingoes. That included over 60 individual trips into the Big Desert and Wyperfeld, where we monitored Wilkerr, expanded our trail camera network, collected additional scat swabs for genetic testing, and documented feral donkey and 1080 activity. Across that expanded network, we collected and reviewed more than 1.14 million trail camera images.

We attended and presented at the Australian Dingo Foundation AGM, where it was a genuine honour to present alongside Dr Kylie Cairns and proud Wadawurrung woman Kelly Ann Blake. We also attended the Yellingbo Dingo Information Day and recorded presentations by Professor Euan Ritchie from Deakin University and Lyn Watson, founder of the Australian Dingo Foundation.

Throughout the year, we attended the Murrayville Dingo meeting hosted by DEECA and Agriculture Victoria, and took part in the Winiam community meeting following the devastating Little Desert bushfire, which tragically claimed the lives of three captive dingoes.

This year, we uncovered 1080 baits laid within the Big Desert State Forest and helped bring wider attention to South Australia’s plans to aerial bait Ngarkat Conservation Park. We continued to call out deliberate misinformation being spread by local organisations, shire councils and MPs, and spoke openly about the mismanagement of animals and the true situation facing wildlife in north-west Victoria.

Earlier in the year, we attended a Wilkerr fatality and collected a genetic swab from a young male. It was a confronting and deeply sad moment, but one that will continue to inform and strengthen future research and conservation, ensuring that even loss is not wasted.

One of the most significant milestones this year was the release of our preprint population estimate for Wilkerr, in collaboration with Deakin University. For the first time, years of fieldwork were brought together into a single study, ensuring the reality faced by Wilkerr is documented and can no longer be ignored.

We worked closely with the Australian Dingo Foundation to submit a nomination for Wilkerr under the EPBC Threatened Species listing, reinforcing partnerships committed to evidence-based decisions and the long-term future of Wilkerr. We also made a formal submission regarding the proposed collaring of Wilkerr.

This work has never happened in isolation. I am deeply grateful for the ongoing collaboration and support from Deakin University, particularly Professor Euan Ritchie and Amanda Lo Casio, whose commitment to rigorous science and ecological integrity continues to strengthen this work. I also want to acknowledge the Australian Dingo Foundation for their continued collaboration, knowledge-sharing and ongoing support, and the Victorian National Parks Association for their advocacy and the important role they play in amplifying evidence-based conservation.

To top off an intense year, Big Desert Dingo Research was honoured to receive the Macintosh Research Grant from the Australian Dingo Foundation, helping ensure this work can continue into the year ahead.

Finally, fieldwork, advocacy and confronting loss take a toll, and none of this would be possible without my partner, Dwayne. His support, patience and willingness to stand beside me through the long days, hard conversations and emotional toll of this work has meant more than words can say.

None of this work is easy. Much of it is confronting, exhausting and emotionally heavy. But it matters. The Big Desert and its dingoes deserve honesty, accountability and policy decisions that reflect evidence rather than ideology.

Thank you to everyone who has supported, listened, shared, questioned and stood alongside our work. We wish you all a safe and happy festive season and look forward to what the year ahead will bring.