He was the tiny dingo pup whose story made worldwide headlines after he appeared to have been dropped by an eagle into the backyard of a Victorian home.
Key points:
- Wandi the purebred dingo was found in a north-east Victorian backyard
- He now lives with a fellow alpine dingo at a dingo sanctuary
- Carers say his story has helped raise awareness about the plight of the alpine dingo, a breed at risk of extinction
Now, six months on, Wandi the purebred dingo is all grown up, but is still proving to be as popular as ever.
Wandi has settled into life at the Australian Dingo Foundation's sanctuary, where he has adapted well, despite his dramatic start to life.
"He has been quite amazing considering the fact that he came in from the wild," sanctuary volunteer Kevin Newman said.
"When he first arrived he didn't really know anything about dingo manners, I guess is the easiest way to put it.
"He was only five weeks old and had obviously been separated from his parents, so we paired him up with an older female dingo pup who sort of taught him the niceties of not chomping down on everything you see and other animals and helped sort of teach those dingo manners and rules."
Settling into sanctuary life
Lyn Watson, the founder of Dingo Discovery Centre and president of the Australian Dingo Foundation, said integrating Wandi into a new environment had its challenges.
But he has taken it all in his stride.
"Wandi is holding his ability to meet people and to be gregarious and outgoing which was always going to be a big worry because dingoes are, by nature, terribly timid and very afraid of human beings," she said.
"It's been a challenge, luckily we're up for it here because we've had dingoes for 36 years and understand them, even the wild ones."
According to Ms Watson he has "grown like a weed and has developed exceptionally well," since he arrived.
"He has come through like a little star," she said.
Happiness with Hermione
Wandi's playmate Hermione has been described as the perfect match.
Born into a litter with three brothers, she was well adapted to life with "boisterous boys".
"She was two weeks younger than Wandi and she was born at the sanctuary," Mr Newman said.
"He gets his exercise everyday out with Hermione and they play and rough and tumble and wrestle all around the paddock."
It is hoped by next puppy season they will become part of the sanctuary breeding program.
"We hope once they get to breeding age, which is about two years of age, because Wandi's line is completely new to our sanctuary, it's a new genetic line for us to keep our population going to make sure we always have that strong pure genetic line happening," Mr Newman said.
"Hopefully it will be with Hermione, but if not we will choose another dingo, but at the moment everything seems to be going well between the two of them, so fingers crossed it stays that way."
A viral sensation
Wandi was discovered by the owners of a property at Wandiligong near Bright, crying in the garden with a mark on his back, believed to be from an eagle that dropped him, in August last year.
The almost unbelievable story has seen Wandi's popularity skyrocket.
"Within the first week we were watching his social media grow, and it was going up daily by the thousands, and we ended up at 20,000 within a week," he said.
"Since then he is currently on about 47,000 followers on Instagram — and that's across the world."
"So we got contacted pretty much from every single country that you can imagine when the ABC came out with Wandi's story."
And it is not just online that Wandi has proved popular, with visitors flocking to the sanctuary at the foothills of the Macedon Ranges, in Victoria, to meet him.
"I think there was sort of multiple layers to it," Mr Newman said.
"I guess the story seemed so far-fetched I think people were like 'hang on what? A puppy dropped out of the sky … and it turned out to be a dingo'."
Raising awareness
Cuteness aside, Mr Newman said Wandi's story has help generate much-needed awareness about the plight of dingoes.
"A lot of the feedback that we get is that people don't know a lot about dingoes and the just want to learn more," Mr Newman said.
"Because he was super adorable as a pup and he still is, that has really helped, because they're a misunderstood animal, but they are really important to Australia and to our ecosystem."
The story has also highlighted the sanctuary's concerns about the future of the alpine dingo, which is found along Australia's eastern seaboard.
"It was a blessing, we were needing to get out there and reach as many people as possible to tell the story of the dingo so that people could start to realise that they're not the terrible animals that people think they are," Mr Newman said.
"They are native species, they have been in Australia for upwards of possibly 10,000 to 18,000 years looking at the genetic evidence, so they are very important to us."