A Douglas resident has had an up-close encounter with a wild dingo spotted around the region recently. 

Charter boatman Jake Wyatt saw the native canine at about 5:30 this morning on Davidson Street and managed to snap a couple of photos on his smartphone. 

The dingo didn’t seem to be afraid of Jake and approached him his car readily. 

“He actually looked to be quite tame, he came right up to the back of the car and tried to follow me when I drove off,” Mr Wyatt said. 

“He really didn’t seem to be afraid at all.”

Mr Wyatt stayed in his car the whole time and did not try to touch the animal.

The Newsport has received several other reports of sightings of dingoes around the area recently, including Newsport staff encountering one on the Captain Cook Highway several weeks ago.

It is unclear if several of the animals are roaming the area or if one has become particularly adventurous. 

Douglas Shire Council Open Spaces manager Peter Logan said people should stay away from dingoes if they encounter them. 

"People should not approach wild dogs or dingoes," he said. 

"If they are approached by a wild dog or dingo that they believe is dangerous they can report it to council for investigation."

If they interact with people enough dingoes can lose their fear of humans and begin to associate them with a food source, sometimes leading to attacks.

A a nine-year-old boy was killed by dingoes on Fraser Island in 2001, an incident that was widely attributed to the animals losing their fear of humans due to being approached and fed by tourists, in addition to scavenging from camps.

Mr Logan said that the shire had a dingo population that was protected depending on where individual animals were at the time. 

“If they are on Crown land or national park they are protected, if they are on private land they are a declared pest,” Mr Logan said. 

“It is also a contentious issue as to whether or not they are pure dingo or wild dogs - Dingoes are protected, wild dogs are declared pests.

“For this reason, council is fairly reactive to the issue depending on circumstances - if they are seen walking around cane paddocks minding their own business, that’s fine, but when they are being pests, for example predating on livestock or domestic pets, council then has a responsibility to control.”

Mr Logan said council would confirm the presence of dingoes using motion-activated cameras then attempting to trap them with soft-jaw traps before disposing of them.