Dingo hunts shark in shallow waters off K’gari, Queensland

A dingo on a popular Queensland tourist island has shown it’s not picky when it comes to dinner after being spotted plucking a shark from the surf.

A fisherman uploaded the unusual video to social media, taken on the eastern side of K’gari, north of Eurong.

The man said he had accidentally caught what is believed to be a young whaler shark and had attempted to release it twice before the dingo shot through the shallow water and grabbed the ocean predator as it began swimming back out to sea.

The quick-thinking dingo ran off with his prize as the shocked fisherman watched, taking out his phone to capture the moment.

Large numbers of whaler sharks have been seen in the region recently. Last week hundreds of sharks, many believed to be whalers, were seen off Moreton Island lured in by a giant bait ball — or a large group of schooling fish which swim together in formations to confuse predators.

The Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) said dingoes are highly adaptable, and while they look similar to some domestic dogs, they are “wild, opportunistic and unpredictable and should be respected”.

“The dingo is an opportunistic and generalist predator that will search widely for food and eat whatever it finds,” a DETSI spokesperson said.

Dingoes will “eat fish, crustaceans, insects, eggs and fruit, depending on availability, and scavenge carcasses”.

However, despite their varied palette, dingoes generally eat small to medium native mammals, birds and reptiles, some introduced feral animals and some domestic animals.

Last month, a 6-year-old boy was airlifted to hospital after he was attacked by a dingo while on K’gari with his grandfather.

The boy was driven by family to Rainbow Beach, where paramedics treated him for head injuries and bite wounds.

The dingo is Australia’s only native canid and is thought to be descended from south Asian wolves.