While I certainly do have my issue with the Coppingers, I still suspect they’re onto something. It’s like how bloggers like Retrieverman constantly criticise the Coppingers even when there’s surmounting evidence to support their views. Again not exactly the case but not when many dingoes (which he considers to be dogs reverting to a wolf state) are actually owned by Aboriginals. They could be careless but not when it gets complicated by other factors.
Many Aboriginals live in camps where their dogs end up straying or wandering between houses anyways. Admittedly I know little about them but then again most owned dogs spend a substantial amount of their time outside and being even deliberately excluded by their owners (to avoid urination and being made to guard), so they’re inevitably left to their own devices.
(They could be somewhat socialised but not really extensively so.)
Poverty’s an issue among them and since Australia’s mostly desert, even if Aboriginals wanted to spay their dogs but not when most vets (especially the better ones) are literally out of reach. Dingoes themselves are noted to scavenge as do most dogs and sometimes even wolves. Heck even most dogs look like dingoes.
All the more a reason to respect the Coppingers. Even if their research’s flawed, they’re still onto something that many other stray dog researchers agree on/already know.
fynm 