Growing up fast: Volunteer carer Samantha Hall with a furry bundle of trouble at Barwon Heads’ Jirrahlinga animal sanctuary.
READERS of the Independent have provided names for eight adorable dingo pups at Barwon Heads’ Jirrahlinga animal sanctuary.
The readers entered a competition in the paper to name the dingoes after they arrived at the sanctuary in August.
Volunteer carer Samantha Hall said the winning names were Ringo, Kianna, Tanisha, Bindi, Yasue, Kimba, Kaleb and Chip.
The readers who won passes for providing the names were: Gwen and Bill Connan; Kianna and Tanisha Holland; Sophie Mairos; Bridie Lynch; Danielle Honeybul; Jessica Vandenhurk; Kirra, Patrick, Tahj and Strider of Torquay College; Judith Clarke; and Jason Brown.
Some of the winners’ suggested names have been kept on file for future dingo litters.
Ms Hall said the 10 and 11-week-old pups had quadrupled in size since the Independent’s story on their arrival at Jirrahlinga.
They also had “very distinct personalities”
“With a dingo puppy, by eight weeks they are entirely dingoes,” Ms Hall said.
“Because they eat meat from three weeks of age they grow even faster as well but they’re still cute and fluffy. They’re really wonderful to see.”
Ms Hall said the pups had classic dingo traits.
“They do things like chew and jump but will always be shy when they’re unsure of things – they flee rather than fight,” she said.
“They’re very placid.”
The pups will become part of the region’s first pure-bred dingo breeding program, operated between Jirrahlinga and a dingo farm near Castlemaine.
Sanctuary owner Tehree Gordon said the pups were an expensive addition to Jirrahlinga, costing around $2000 a year to raise.
Four of the pups were on display so far, she said.
