{"id":28850,"date":"2026-06-11T01:08:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T01:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/28850\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T01:08:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T01:08:32","slug":"tourists-shocked-by-gruesome-sight-under-outback-tree-horrible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/28850\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourists ‘shocked’ by gruesome sight under outback tree: ‘Horrible’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tourists heading into an outback Queensland town<\/a> were “shocked” to spot a grisly warning sign under a gnarled old tree by a roadside.<\/p>\n

Peter Valentine, an associate professor at James Cook University, was among a group of travellers driving into Winton after a bird-watching trip, when he stopped his car in horror.<\/p>\n

“We were completely shocked by it,” he told Yahoo News.<\/p>\n

“We were not far outside of town, and there’s this strung-up carcass on the side of the road.”<\/p>\n

What they had spotted was the lifeless body of a dingo<\/a> hanging by one leg from a tree, a possible warning to other landholders about the predator’s presence in the area.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/p>\n

The strung-up dingo could clearly be seen from the Winton to Lark Quarry Road, which leads to the Dinosaur Stampede National Monument fossil site.<\/p>\n

(Peter Valentine)<\/p>\n

The scene was eerily similar to a sight he’d documented during a trip to the area in August 2020.<\/a><\/p>\n

That year, he’d seen four carcasses hanging from a road sign. But almost six years on, he’d put that experience out of his head.<\/p>\n

What struck Valentine this time around was the way the dingo’s body had been treated after it was shot.<\/p>\n

“I was a farmer in Western Australia, and I killed sheep for our table for many years,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So I’m not saying you mustn’t kill, I’m not quite as Buddhist as that.<\/p>\n

“But I am saying you should do it with respect.”<\/a><\/p>\n

Do you have a story about a dingo encounter? Contact newsroomau@yahoonews.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Why dingoes are strung up from trees<\/p>\n

Seeing wild animals killed and displayed on roadsides can be confronting to travellers, who data shows are overwhelmingly drawn to Australia to see its wildlife.<\/a><\/p>\n

Dingoes are strung up from trees by hunters or farmers after they have been killed.<\/p>\n

The practice has multiple purposes:<\/p>\n

A sign to other landholders that the predators have been eradicated from a territory.<\/p>\n

An attempt to deter other dingoes.<\/p>\n

Paid trappers or shooters supplying proof of a kill to property owners.<\/p>\n

Why there’s controversy around native dingoes<\/p>\n

Dingoes have been present in Australia for up to 5,000 years and are considered a native species that is culturally important to its Indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n

For over 200 years, the animals have been killed because they are known to sometimes kill the sheep introduced for wool and meat by European settlers.<\/a><\/p>\n

Winton Shire Council regularly uses poison baits to kill dingoes and places bounties on their heads. In 2025, it offered $100 for each scalp presented.<\/p>\n

Despite having a unique genetic line, state and local governments often refer to them as “wild dogs”.<\/a><\/p>\n

“There’s a great deal of what I’d refer to as bulls**t about dingoes,” Valentine said.<\/p>\n

“But one thing that’s real is that stringing a carcass from a tree in full view of public roads is horrible.”<\/p>\n

\"Taken<\/p>\n

In 2020, Peter Valentine was shocked to see dead dingoes hanging from a road sign.<\/p>\n

(Peter Valentine)Indigenous woman responds to stringing up of dingoes<\/p>\n

Sonya Takau, a Jirrbal Rainforest Aboriginal woman living in Queensland<\/a>, told Yahoo News the treatment of dingoes in Queensland is “heartbreaking”.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got a very strong cultural relationship with dingoes as a First Nations person, and we see dingoes as family members,” said Takau.<\/p>\n

“Seeing them like that brings back that colonial history of how my ancestors were treated.<\/p>\n

“So it’s disheartening to see that in the year 2026, we still abuse native wildlife like that, I really don’t know what people are thinking.”<\/p>\n

RELATED<\/p>\n

Takau, who is also the founder of the Dingo Culture advocacy group, said it’s time to abolish “ancient” practices like culling dingoes.<\/p>\n

“We need to move on together as proud Australians who have a long, beautiful culture that has been here for thousands of years,” she said.<\/p>\n

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