Wild dogs tend to send shivers down human spines, but they do look cute when they're babies. Mind you, these ones are in captivity at the Australian Reptile Park.

They're among six dingo puppies just born at the park. While these dingoes are making people smile, it's a different picture up north on Fraser Island.

The most recent call for a dingo cull on the island followed a 14-month-old boy being dragged from a camper trailer last week. It was around midnight that a dingo snatched the boy and headed towards bush. Luckily, the toddler's father heard his son's cries and managed to save him while chasing the attacking dingo and its pack away.

It was the third dingo attack on the island this year. We couldn't help but think of the Azaria Chamberlain case, although that happened at Uluru.

Reptile Park director Tim Faulkner said Australia had "generally been at war with the dingo".

In the thick of the battle are farmers, sheep and long dingo-proof fences.

However, Tim said it was a myth that the dingo was a dangerous pest. He added that dingoes were being "blasted, baited, tracked, shot and hunted in the wild because of their perceived damage to agriculture".

"Killing dingoes makes way for feral foxes and cats to continuously increase the rate of mammal extinction," he said.

He said the park's dingo puppies were purebreds.

"In the wild, there's so much crossover between wild dingoes and domestic dogs, so keeping these lines pure is really important for the species.

"These puppies are the most beautiful ambassadors because dingoes have a critical role to play in Australian ecosystems."

The dingo is as an apex predator and, as such, it plays a role in keeping nature in balance. As Australia's largest land-based predator, it holds a unique place in the landscape.

The destruction of dingoes in particular ecosystems has been linked to widespread losses of small and medium-sized native mammals because foxes then take a greater role in the food chain.

Dingoes are unique. They've been here for about 4000 years, possibly longer. One theory suggests Asian boaters brought them here.

They're Australia's only native canid. To put this in perspective, other canids include wolves, coyotes and jackals.

Dingoes don't bark like dogs, they howl like wolves. They're origins link back to the south Asian grey wolf.

Humans have long been afraid of the big bad wolf - in real life and fairytales. Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs and The Boy Who Cried Wolf all come to mind. Not to mention sayings like "a wolf in sheep's clothing", "keep the wolf from the door", "wolf whistle" and the "lone wolf". Wolves are the stuff of legend.

But it's a fine line between a villainous human and a villainous wolf [read dingo].

And when you think about it, humans are way more scary than wolves and dingoes. But that's another argument altogether.

Now we're heading from the top of the food chain to the bottom. Somewhere near the bottom, anyhow.

Bilbies are planned to be reintroduced in Sturt National Park in far western NSW.

These adorable little creatures are part of a NSW government and University of NSW project to reintroduce extinct mammals back into desert habitat.

Having built a massive feral-proof fence, the so-called "Wild Deserts" project eradicated every rabbit, cat and fox inside the perimeter.

Wild Deserts project co-ordinator Reece Pedler said it had been a been a huge effort to eradicate these feral pests from such a large area.

"This 40 square-kilometre area now represents one of the largest rabbit-free areas in the country - this is an amazing achievement given these deserts supported millions of rabbits in the past, which decimated vegetation, causing soil erosion and the loss of native fauna," Dr Pedler said.

Wild Deserts ecologist Rebecca West said the area had received less than 100 millimetres of rain over the last two years.

Dr West said this was "the driest conditions since rainfall records began, leading to low ground cover and frequent dust storms".

"Not only has the drought reduced rabbit, cat and fox numbers but it has also made tracking easier over large areas of bare red sand," she said.

The team is now looking forward to a bit of rain in the desert area to give a boost to vegetation and invertebrates.

These food sources will support seven extinct mammal species being reintroduced to the area. As well as the bilby, the enclosure will be home to the western quoll, burrowing bettong, two species of bandicoot and stick-nest rat.

Now to an environmental issue of a different kind. Newcastle City Council has advertised for a "bin positioner" to join its waste services team.

We're not by any means putting down the job itself, but the name did make us look twice. A bin positioner? What on earth does that involve?

The council said the duties include "bin positioning and the repair, maintenance, cleaning and installation of bins and associated equipment such as enclosures and stands".

The bin positioner drives across the city ahead of garbage trucks to help about 200 people with mobility challenges. The job involves taking out their bins and, once they're emptied, putting them back.

It's a noble role that helps the council meet United Nations sustainable development goals.