Wild black dogs in Papua

_{Wednesday 4th January 2023}

WILD BLACK DOGS IN PAPUA

The other day I came across a brief reference to a population of wild black dogs in the Giluwe region of Papua New Guinea.This was a comment in a larger newspaper report in the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier of June 7th 1972. A Google search using the word “Giluwe” revealed a Wikipedia page on ” Mount Giluwe”,being the second highest mountain in New Guinea,located in the Southern Highlands province. but nothing on that page referred to wild black dogs,though the newspaper article mentioned that these dogs were like the dingo.

Most probably these dogs were or are a melanistic population of the New Guinea singing dog. Australian cryptozoologist Mike Hardcastle believes the singing dog can come in black colour (1). According to a Wikipedia article (kindly drawn to my attention by Australian cryptozoologist Rebecca Lang) the singing dog lives in the Star Mountains and Wharton Range. They are usually black and tan in colour, see image.

(1) Conversation with Mike Hardcastle January 2nd 2023