Hunting in Western Samoa and Eastern Samoa - Traditional methods in Polynesia

A sketch of a type of wild boar with it's thick 

armored shoulder blades

In both Western and Eastern Samoa the hunting culture has changed little, mostly personally favored gear or safety concerns are added to hunts, sometimes they are discarded but for the most part - Samoa is Samoa. The most popular hunting ways remain still in Samoa which includes either the vast dangerous open waters of the ocean or the thick bush land hunt. Samoa has some the best fishing grounds in the World and ocean hunting involves using lures, nets, underwater slings or spear fishing, fake home traps so that prey feel safe, mate-baits (female bait designs), and fish herding is a well known practice. During large social events an entire village will create a very wide and long barrier with a leafy-rope and herd fish in shallow water to a death spot, where they're kept immobile, then the youth and women will jump inside the circle and bash the herd. Samoans have always rotated fishing grounds and there are areas where Giant Clams (rare), muscles, and many reef life, are kept safe to breed for only select event picking. Even though hunting is extremely rewarding for Samoans they have still been known to use aquaculture at times in private pools and agricultural (Plantation business - Horticulture) has always been a huge part of the Samoan lifestyle. Fruits are easily picked down paths to homes and it's harder to stop things from growing than it is to farm. Samoan plantations carry a garden variety of eatable fruits and plants and hold meat stock for immediate supply use, the traditional plantation animals being the Southeast Asian or Samoan chicken and the domesticated farm pig.

On land Wild Boar hunting with a pack of wolf-dogs is the more popular way for acquiring wild game, allowing Samoan men to socialize and have some sport. The hunting can be part of a duty or just a pastime with friends. Usually the wolf-dogs have a leader or elder hunter in the pack which guides the pack in a way that they need very little help from the human hunting party. The human hunting party will either follow tracks or attempt at herding the boar toward the wolf-dogs.

Southeast Asian Flying Fox - The Flying Fox in Samoa 

is hunted at night and the men have time to relax and cook over the camp fire.

Hunting the Flying-fox (Southeast Asia & Polynesia Samoan Bat - biggest flying mammal in the world) is also a pastime. The Flying Fox (various species) is found from Southeast Asia to Melanesia, Australia, and into the 16 million square-mile Polynesian Triangle but mostly on the central Pacific islands.The Flying Fox is though a special species of great concern and has in the last few decades been under conservation efforts to save and protect them from future harm. 

The Polynesian Wolf in the Pacific

The Asia Pacific Polynesian wolf breed originates in Southeast Asia, brought to Outer Oceania during the Polynesian colonization of the Pacific thousands of years ago. In Australia, the same Polynesian wolf breed is called a "Dingo", however that is not it's name, labeled so by foreigners. It's been hard for academics to label the Polynesian Wolf over the years, but most academics do agree it is most definitely a wolf or wolf-dog. The genetic studies have shown that it's an ancestor of Asian wolves and connected to other wolf-dog like in Japan. The Japanese Dog called the 'Shiba- Inu', has been compared and shown related. The wolf-dog has been found in many islands across the Pacific, even in Aotearoa New Zealand and in the United States (The American Dingo - Carolina dog). There is still controversy on how the breed made it to the Americas before Euro-colonial times and if it was brought by early Polynesian explorers.

"They look like dogs because they have short haired mane but they only have short haired mane because they live in tropical climates. There is documentation of the Dingos having a full wolf haired mane in colder climates around the mountains. In most cases they are called wolf-dogs"

Sketch drawn of Tahitian hunting wolf-dog on a Polynesian vessel

 1769 first voyage of British Captain James Cook

Illustration of the Southeast Asian and Polynesian 

traditional hunting wolf-dog breed

The wolf-dog breed above is well known in Australia originating from the Pacific island seafarers brought from Southeast Asia. Footage of a traditional Samoan hunt is in the link below. Charles Catton illustrated a Tahitian dog which resembles an Alpine-white Dingo. The three colors of the Polynesian wolf are Golden-tanned with white fur areas (picture above), Alpine-white sometimes with or without Golden-tanned fur, and Black with Golden-tanned fur, the same as with many wolves and wolf-dogs in Asia. The dogs used in this video are not all Dingos types, some are mixed euro-breeds that arrived with foreigners. 

Linked to Youtube - (Sign-in might be required by Youtube for age purposes.)

[-] Western Samoa - Wild Boar Hunting

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Posted in: Hunting and Trapping Studies,Pacific Culture Studies

The American Dingo - The Pacific Coast California and Carolina Dog and Georgia?

ANSWER: One of the main reasons why Americans think of the Carolina-American Dingo as a beloved pet is that Americans raised Cattle while Australians raised sheep. The poor Dingo reputation propagated by Australia came mainly from the 'Sheep Ranchers' who lobbied to have them hunted. Because of the fragile nature of the sheep, and the sheep being a favorite food among the Asia Pacific wolf-dogs (dingos), Australian sheep ranchers were often terrified of losing a whole herd in a single night. The USA Ranchers focused largely on Cattle and Horse raising, and the American Dingo became a strong ally when it came to the bigger animal stocks. The American Dingo is known to be the greatest Cattle dog in the west, able to easily herd a bull, bear, or a spooked cow. A Carolina Dog-Dingo's close cousin was featured in the movie "Old Yeller" 1956 made by Disney and became an American movie family classic, the most popular family Dog film for 35 years running.

The American Carolina Dog isn't just a good looking dog, but has an American History behind it in the Old West and was chosen in the movie for it's breed, or mixture of breed in this movie, for being a true blue Cattle Ranchers Dog. A Texan's best friend. 

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Posted in: Hunting and Trapping Studies

Animal cruelty in Australia and The Southeast Asian Wolf: Asia Pacific Polynesia

Unregulated Hunting of Australian Wildlife

photo by ABC News: Giulio Saggin

The Australian war against the South Pacific Wolf has been a costly one, and a hateful one by desperate farmers like Don Sallway. The American Dingo or the Carolina Dog is a favorite Wolf-dog breed in the USA for home and hunting, and its a wonder why Australia hasn't progressed in their views since the 1800s from the countrified Australian Sheep-shaver mentality [1,2]. The Australian Government has allowed the image of the native Wolf-dog to be down played to a "wild menace", so to allow ranchers to not just defend against packs, but to actively hunt them down and kill entire dens. Sometimes the means in which the older generation ranchers hunt is extreme and harmful to the environmental ecosystem, and with Asia Pacific changes, these ole' timers with their old methods of handling things might be put under more strict policy. Research on the DNA of the South Pacific wolf breed shows it's not just any wolf breed, but the genetic founder of other Wolf-dogs in Asia and has ties to the Asian and Eurasian wolves. Some Australians are still using the old Boomer term of "Dingoes" while academics call them Southeast Asian wolves or even Polynesian wolves [1]. 

It's reported that there are many regions of Australia that are giving the wolf-dogs no Animal Rights Protection, calling it pest control, even though the wolf breed is of extremely valuable stock [(warning graphic content) 1, 2,3].

"Registered full breeds of a Shiba Inu Japanese Wolf-dog who has close genetic relations to the Southeast Asian and Polynesian Wolf, start selling a 2,000.00 USD and go to 3,500.00 USD. If Australia had a stronger sense of culture and a sharper appreciation for education, they too could have a unique and proud Australian Wolf-dog breed. The USA breeders have today the best in the World Wolf-Dog breeds on the market, with all the characteristics of a Timber Wolf, but with the family sense of an average Huskey" [Youtube link: American Wolf-Dog]

"If its going to be considered a dog, it should still be protected from Animal cruelty. This not the wild west, this is an Era of environmental responsibility, of Global Warming, and if need be, these old out-dated people must be held legally responsible for their actions. First world nations are working on reducing their carbon footprint, these Australian ranchers must also change with the times"

"The Australian sheep ranchers have spread so many myths and drunken hill-billy stories about the Dingo, that they really don't know what type of breed is safe and what breed is not"

A few new generation Australian ranchers had the right idea, who have a higher education level, and who see the land as a home and not as an enemy. They raised a good size pack of Native Wolf-dogs and now that pack helps protect their property and their family against any opposing wildlife in the bush. 

Studies show that the Wolf-dog was brought 3000-4500 years ago and is from Southeast Asian-Polynesian seafarers and is a colonizer of the Australian environment. With one of the most hateful political campaigns against an animal still today, with fake information on the breed, brutal traps, and a long list of chemical compounds used to kill unregulated, its up to a better generation to step forward.

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Posted in: Featured Articles,Hunting and Trapping Studies,Pacificnews,TMBW Spotlight

Hunting Wild Boar in Western Samoa - American Hunter having fun hunting trip

Traditional Boar hunting in the Samoa islands - An American hunter celebrates on the trip with Samoan friends. In Samoa, there are two main ways of hunting boar. One is using a snare and the other more popular way for the men is to release the hunting dogs and run down the boar.

Today any dog can be trained to hunt, but the best and traditional breed for Samoans was the Pacific wolf, or Southeast Asian Wolf.

Footage of Samoan Boar Hunting - Must log-in to Youtube for age purposes. LINK>> [American Hunter trip in Samoa]

Traditional Samoan hunting breed (above)

Picture of the Polynesian Wolf breed in Australia

originally from Southeast Asia

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Posted in: Hunting and Trapping Studies,Pacific Culture Studies

The Australian industrialization and War against the Pacific hunting breed - The Dingo

Australian Native Polynesian Wolf or Southeast asian Wolf (dingo)

being cared for in a conservation program

Australia is one of the youngest founded nations in the world, not officially a united region until 1901. During its struggles to become self-sufficient, hoping to build a reputation beyond a British Imperial Penal Colony, it has shown on several occasions to be a danger to itself and the Asia Pacific-Pacific Islander environment. 

The first farming and ranching industries in Australia became the small-town local political influences, and with time they grew in influence, mostly the cattle and sheep Ranchers. The Australian economy has since been highly dependent on it's export markets to East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South America, and in the 1800s the cattle and sheep market took on a War against the natural wildlife. A foremost target has been the Southeast Asian Wolf (the Dingo), who came to Australia through the Polynesian Colonization of the Pacific.

Since the 1860s, sheep ranchers have produced media propaganda against local wildlife and have supported censoring public information on studies like genetic research that may help the unique status of the Dingo and other wildlife in Animal Rights protection instead of labeling them simple stray animals. The Australian meat markets have promoted that the surrounding environment itself is a danger to public so they could use lethal pest control agents to poison large regions of land.

The Tasmanian Tiger, similar to breeds in Africa, is now extinct in Australia, last recorded living in 1933. Also by the 1800s to late 1950s, over 63 species of birds, mammals, and amphibians have since become extinct with arrival of British foreigners, which has brought upon them building pressure from world wildlife organizations to found government funded projects for conservation. 

The uses of Poison 1080 have been the most controversial pest control methods in Australia, as it has proven to be lethal to animals, and a chronic health issue to local human inhabitants. Regardless of the health risks involved, Australia has ignored environmental warnings. Green organizations agreed that the desperate moves of their markets are typical of administrative inexperience, and that a growing negative reputation implies that Australians can be easily bought-off to destroy the only home they have.

Environmentalist "They had a chance to make Australia into a paradise, become part of it, part of the Indigenous Aboriginals, friendly neighbors to the Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders, build their own version of Camelot in such a rich environment, and what did they do, they sold it, part by part"

"It's already the perfect breed of hunting wolf, support it as a hunters friend and companion. This is not the Wild-West like the ranchers think it is, where everything is an animal to spear down" 

"I think it's a little funny really, rich people buy ranches and fill them with rare animals, Australian ranchers however, buy ranches, and fill them with common-table animals, then shoot the rare exotic animals that are flourishing in the Australian natural habitats. .... Isn't that just a little strange? Why don't you breed the rare animals instead....They have essentially put a sheep farm inside a World Zoo of rare Breeds, its insane and quite mind blowing really. Australia is home to the worlds most unique animal species, which could have been bred. I wonder if one day they'll wake up and say -we originally had the perfect set-up, and we turned it into the worlds second hand meat market"

In 2005, The World League held protest against the Tasmanian Government's use of Poison 1080 at the Tasmanian Tourism Office, 50 Parkes St Sydney on Friday 22 July. The organization has reported on Australia's control methods and the killing of 200,000 Wallabies [Kangaroos], with an unknown amount of other Dingos and wildlife. The local Australian public remained in political shock during the scandals, appalled at the land sweep of Wallabies as the nations national rugby team is named "The Wallabies".

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Posted in: Hunting and Trapping Studies,Mana Science