13 | January | 2013 | Astarté Earthwise

Please help support this very good cause, get involved if you can and spend just a few minutes of your time to make sure these dogs are protected, thank you

Wise & Blessed be

Astarte

THE OCHRE PROJECT

https://www.facebook.com/events/234543566675729/

BRINGING AWARENESS, CHANGE AND PRESERVATION TO THE DINGOES OF FRASER ISLAND

THE OCHRE PROJECT TM:

this is a virtual event. you attend by sending a photo with the tag phrase ‘i wear ochre because…’ .

OCHRE REPRESENTS THE COLOURS OF DINGOES, ARE THE COLOURS OF THE EARTH, AND THE NATIVE COLOURS OF AUSTRALIA

ochre: oʊkər/ oh-kər; from Greek: ὠχρός, ōkhrós, pale, also spelled (ocher)

FOR THE LOVE OF FRASER ISLAND DINGOES, DINGOES, WOLVES, DOGS AND ANIMALS EVERYWHERE

DEDICATED TO THE REMEMBRENCE OF INKY

hi all. thank you so much for helping me get started. i now need your help more than ever.. i have created an event to bring immediate awareness change and preservation to the dingoes of fraser island. it is a most critical situation. these magnificent animals, one of the last pure strain of dingo, of which there are possibly at most 200 left or possibly only 50, are being culled. they are being tagged, collared, poisoned and hunted. they are classified as vermin. the legislature in place is far more concerned with the economics of the income tourism provides to the lovely island while they are dead set on putting the fraser island dingoes to extinction. very contradictory indeed that the gouvernment would abolish that on which their precious tourism exists. dingoes are a main attraction. these are not wild dogs. and rarely do they interfere with the tourists. they are intergral part of the history.
recently, a young pup (a dingo is not supposed to be ear tagged under 12 months of age; tagging is cruel anyways) Inky, was targeted as a threat. He lost this battle and was murdered nov. 23. i wanted to get this event going while inky was still running so that maybe we- as one voice- could have prevented his destruction. the destruction will continue until the legislation is changed or the dingoes are no more.
the aboriginals, in fraser island they are the butchulla, believe that the dingo are their totem and that they carry the spirits of their ancestors. they have lived peacefully with the dingoes since their time. and they have not been allowed to give Inky or others a proper burial.
there is no objective organisation to oversee the protection of the dingo. the policies are under review early next year. until then we fight for a moratorium on the culling.

all of this is so wrong.we need to take action as one voice now. we are the only ones that can speak for the fraser island dingoes.

a note about myself and why this is of absolute importance to me. we rescued a carolina dog named fred. these are american dingo, and distant relative of the wolf and australian dingo as are all dogs. in researching fred i came across the fraser island dingoes and fred bears such a striking resemblance. i also have a namesake who is the jane goodall of the fraser island dingoes in aus. it breaks my heart to imagine fred being hunted, starved, trapped, brutalised. i can hardly imagine what it is to bear witness to this and feel so powerless.

however, we are not powerless.

i got permission from a friend of mine who had great success in creating her awareness project. so this is how it goes:

THE OCHRE PROJECT: AWARENESS AND PRESERVATION OF THE DINGOES OF FRASER ISLAND
this is how it would work:
1. The tag line for the project is: “I wear ochre because….”, so I am asking you to finish that statement as it applies to yourself. For example, I could say, “I wear ochre because i have a voice” Other examples include, i wear ochre because… ‘i want a future for the dingoes’; ‘i hate 1080’; ‘my school is studying them’; ‘my friend has a dingo’, ‘they are sacred’ ‘i want to follow the paw prints in the sand’ ‘because i respect the Butchulla” etc. fred (my dog) could say ‘i wear ochre because i dont want to be killed’ it can be really general like ‘i wear ochre because… i love dogs, animals, want to stop animal cruelty…’ You can really say anything, whether it’s personal or more general. Be as creative as you would like!! and as many submissions as you would like. EVERYONE IS INVITED. animals of course are not excluded. You could even do it in a group if you are in school, on a team, at work, etc.
2. then i would like you to write your statement on a piece of paper/posterboard/your hand/whatever! then dress in ochre (or wear something ochre, face paint, hat, colour of marker, paper, very flexible), and have someone take a picture of you with your statement or take it of yourself. (i suggest not trying to take a phto of yourself in the mirror unless you write well backwards) The picture should be at least 720×480 which is the size of a standard definition (4:3) aspect ratio.
3. you may post it on the event page but please you must also email me your photo at JBPNYC@GMAIL.COM

once i have all the pictures, i will compile them into some kind of awareness video and/or portfolio. i hope to spread the video via social media sources, newspapres, radios, as well as govt persons, animal and civil rights groups. i want to use this so that no more dingoes suffer again and are not driven to extinction. i want you to please make this heard.

please invite your friends to participate in this project, and their friends etc. i want a big, diverse turnout!
lets aim for a deadline of Jan 1st 2013 for submissions.

ONE VOICE. ONE PAW
if you want further information, please contact me. here are also good facebook groups/pages i recommend: please feel free to add to list. also, if you just look up dingo, no doubt that you will find that there are some native dogs in your area.
save the fraser island dingoes, inc.
support wildlife photographer, jennifer parkhurst
call upon the australian government to protect the dingo
australian endangered species do something now
friends of the australian dingo
henrys page

websites:
http://www.fraserislandfootprints.com/
http://savefraserislanddingoes.com/

videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwiPE-iZo0I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV8G8de9_K4

great thanks to all. esp. http://cdrcp.org/ who helped me identify and raise fred. and to lizzie for her passion for the purple project for eating disorder awareness that is infectious as i hope this will be.

please invite everyone.

THE OCHRE PROJECT is TM of Jennifer Britton Parkhurst
*please note: Jennifer Britton Parkhurst is not Aus. Jennifer Parkhurst

Whist I was out weeding the rose garden yesterday, late in the day, after having had a day where the mercury made it over 44 degrees, I was enjoying the music, lights and the magic of the storms in the skies all around me. I looked to the Northern sky and saw an amazing rainbow with its feet planted firmly amongst the giant and ancient lilli pilli trees that line the river down the hill from me, on the property I live on. I stood up, as the colours stretched out across the sky above me and into the river behind me….talk about natural magic!

There I was standing right under a full spectacular rainbow…I felt so blessed to be a part of this gift of fire and water, that goes from the earth, through the air and repeats this cycle involving all the elements, and it moves my spirit, to a heightened awareness, and deepens my connection to the place I call home. Moments like these are where we can truly tap the bone, and connect with our ancestors, as it holds us in a place between the worlds.

I see this reflected before me as the sky to the North is a dark purplish deep grey before me, and behind me and to the left the South Western sky is bright blue with white clouds and sunshine! Here I stand between the worlds in the physical as well as the astral, two worlds, with an umbrella of radiant rainbow above me, reaching deeply back to earth, at each end, the river’s water embracing the colours as well as the mythical pots of gold.

Moments like this confirm for me my animistic path, and the connection becomes euphoric, heady and effervescent.

I lay in the paddock, surrounded by tall grass that has seen the extremes of 40 degrees 3 times in the last week; it’s cool yet crunchy in spots, my dog faithfully beside me, lies down with me. The cows surround us separated by the fences of worn grey timber and rusted barbed wire. Varied splashes of water fall on my skin, from the rain clouds above. The breeze gets stronger and is refreshing and stirs up the grass all around me. I too lay here seeking nourishment like the parched Earth; I accept each drop of water and each breath of air on the breeze into my being.

Here I lay in the embrace of the Mother, in a space between the waters of her luscious river curves, a pocket of earth, a century of acres of paradise, surrounded by her healing waters, that give all that dwell here much life.

I am blessed for these moments, for this place, and for the ancestors that guide me in my work. I am home!