Dingo Dinkelman may be all over social media for his daring escapades with dangerous animals, but conservation is at the heart of work, writes Stephen Smith.
Over the past few months, my children have been watching the movie Back to the Outback on repeat. It’s the tale of some dangerous and “ugly” critters that escape from a zoo to return to The Outback. Crazy escapades (and a moral) follow, with macho zookeeper Chaz Hunt on their trail.
When I was asked to interview Dingo Dinkelman, I was expecting a South African version of Chaz Hunt, dressed in khaki and full of bravado. Instead, I was greeted by a modern conservationist who has managed to use social media to support his passion – critter conservation.
“In my opinion, conservation and the traditional view of conservation need to change. The traditional view is that you need to be dressed in khaki and in the middle of the bush, getting tick bite fever and bilharzia, to be a true conservationist. But we’re living in a digital age with smartphones and smart everything else and instant gratification, and the last thing that kids want is to be in the middle of the bush with all those massive monsters that want to eat them,” says Dingo.
“Instead, I see conservation as creating a connection between people and animals. How are we going to stop rhino poaching or the trade in shark fins for soup. How are we going to stop people from killing African rock pythons for muti? You’re not going to stop it by regulating it because it’s already regulated and yet it carries on. The only way you’re going to stop it is by getting people to fall in love with these animals. So if I can get people to build a connection with a snake or a crocodile, shark, lion, hippo, then they will value that animal more alive than they do dead. That’s when true conservation will happen.”
As part of his conservation efforts, Dingo and his team are building Dingo’s Animal Kingdom in Cato Ridge, a conservation property dedicated to setting the standard of how animals should be kept. “It will be the base for where people will fall in love with animals,” says Dingo. “I want people to come and see animals in their natural environment – it won’t be a place with animals in small cages, so people won’t feel sorry for these animals.”
Dingo’s Animal Kingdom will also perform a vital role in Dingo’s conservation efforts by raising money. “We’re involved in pangolin conservation and rhino de-horning programs, we support rhino orphanages and captive breeding of endangered reptile species around the world, and a bunch of other things that we fund.”
I asked Dingo about how conservation crosses borders, with his exotic animals in mind. “I’m not trying to reach only South Africans – conservation needs to happen around the world. Some of our animals are indigenous, some are exotic – we try to keep keystone species, which are species that define an ecosystem and are highly recognised like king cobras or black mambas. If something happens to the wild populations of these species, it puts the whole ecosystem out of whack. That’s the great thing about YouTube – the videos are seen around the world, and conservation is needed everywhere. As long as people are falling in love with animals somewhere, I’m achieving my goal of conservation and education – I don’t care if it’s a Burmese python or an African rock python that they’re falling in love with.”
Dingo also speaks of de-monstering animals, de-villainising them, by getting people to see the intelligence and personality behind the scary countenance. Once they see that the croc, for example, at Dingo’s Animal Kingdom recognises his name and comes when called, they start to see him as a name and an individual and not some blood-thirsty killer. And once they can see him like this, the irrational fear fades and a love, respect and admiration for this particular animal emerges.
Dingo’s shows are often aimed at school children – “I want to reach kids before they’ve learnt to fear these animals. Before they think that every spider is out to bite and kill them. That’s half the battle won.” So they next time your child’s school says that Dingo is coming for a show, embrace it. This is not just an opportunity for your kid to have a pic with a snake that you can stick on the fridge – this is an opportunity for your child to become a conservationist. *
FOR MORE INFO: Follow Dingo Dinkelman on YouTube and other social media, take your kids to his shows or Dingo’s Animal Kingdom, and foster a new generation of people who fall in love with animals. www.dingowild.com, @dingo_dinkelman.
