Two tourists in Australia have been fined AU$2,300 (£1,205) each for posing with dingoes to get “selfies and videos”.
It comes after 23-year-old Sarah Peet, was attacked by three or four of the Australian native dogs on Monday as she jogged along a beach at Queensland state’s K’gari, the world’s largest sand island.
Ms Peet, from Brisbane, was flown by helicopter to a mainland hospital in a stable condition, with rescuers saying the attack could have been fatal.
Visiting the island in the wake of the mauling, Environment Minister Leanne Linard said two women aged 29 and 25 had been fined after posting snaps of themselves with the dingoes.
One of the women had videoed three sleeping dingo pups.
“I’m sure they were very cute, but there would have been a mother nearby and any mother will defend their child and their babies really voraciously,” Ms Linard told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Tourists who breach wildlife rules to take selfies with dingoes are now being warned that the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service monitors social media to impose fines.
The fines can be as high as 12,000 Australian dollars (£6,285).
The authorities have “humanely” euthanised the dingo who led the pack which mauled the 23-year-old jogger this week.
“Euthanising a high-risk dingo is always a last resort and the tough decision by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service was supported by the island’s traditional owners, the Butchulla people,” the service said in a statement.
It was the second on the island in recent weeks to be put down for biting and threatening behaviour.
The dingoes have become more fearless in recent years, partly blamed on tourists breaking wildlife rules to feed them or take social media videos.
Ms Peet did not encourage the dingoes to approach her, but visitors to the World Heritage-listed Great Sandy National Park are warned against jogging outside fenced areas because of the risk that dingoes will chase them.
Another dingo was killed by authorities in June after separate attacks on a 7-year-old boy and a 42-year-old French woman.
