New research is busting the myth that dingoes are all but extinct in south-eastern Australia.

A 16-year analysis of canines culled in New South Wales found that around one-quarter were pure dingoes, not wild dogs.

Key points: A study shows that around 25 per cent of dogs culled in NSW over a 16-year period were dingoes

A study shows that around 25 per cent of dogs culled in NSW over a 16-year period were dingoes There are fears that being misclassified as wild dogs could endanger dingo numbers

There are fears that being misclassified as wild dogs could endanger dingo numbers But the coordinator of a control program says culls are helping with dingo conservation

The animals were destroyed by landholders and wildlife managers under legal control programs.

University of NSW research fellow Kylie Cairns, who performed DNA tests on 783 animals collected as wild dogs, said the results had big implications for dingo conservation.

"Out of all of the samples that we tested … we only have five feral dogs with no dingo ancestry," she said.

"What we found is that one in four were pure dingoes. The majority were more than three-quarter dingo."

Dr Cairns said the findings also potentially called into question the notion that dingoes were basically extinct across Australia.

"Wild dogs are perceived to be negative and destructive and worthy of eradication," she said.

"Our data really shows that the term 'wild dog' is misleading — the animals in the wild are dingoes.

Researchers fear that without action, the dingo could go the way of the thylacine. ( ABC News )

"If they look like a dingo and they act like a dingo, and genetically they're mostly dingo, we should just be using the term 'dingo' to describe these animals."

'Living, persisting, breeding'

The National Wild Dog Action Plan, which was started in 2014, aims to help communities use best practice to manage wild dog numbers.

The program uses culling, trapping, shooting and poisoning to control wild dogs and dingoes across Australia.

It also tries to conserve numbers where needed and to protect dingoes from cross-breeding with domestic dogs.

National Wild Dog Management coordinator Greg Mifsud said the program was helping dingo conservation.

"We've got plenty of landscape out there where dogs and dingoes are living and persisting and breeding," he said.

"[They're] doing their thing as they've always done.

Research shows up to a quarter of wild dogs culled over 16 years were actually dingoes. ( ABC News: Mary Lloyd )

"In fact, in some parts we could have way more than what was being there naturally because we've improved availability for water."

The culling program only operates on the perimeter of state public lands, dingoes on crown land are protected.

Dingoes that cross the line into private land and threaten livestock face being culled.

Mr Mifsud admitted that about 25 per cent of the dogs killed in the north-east New South Wales control program were dingoes.

"That's 25 per cent of the dingoes that walk into a control program," he said.

"That's not 25 per cent of the things that occur in an entire location.

"We're talking about controlling the ones that come to the edge of public land and are moving out of that area to cause impacts."

Dingoes are not listed as a threatened species at a federal level. ( Supplied: Michael Robinson )

Limited data hurts conservation efforts

Dingo conservation is complicated because it comes down to Dr Cairns's point about the importance of the name legally.

The dingo is a native species and protected in most states, but wild dogs are not — federally, dingoes are not listed as a threatened species.

The complex case of dingoes in the desert: Twenty two years of surveys have examined the dingo's complex but positive role in the ecosystem of arid Australia, noting that they play a role in suppressing feral pest populations. "We feel that dingoes do provide a role in controlling cats and foxes because dingoes are a predator themselves, and foxes and cats are smaller predators, and they compete for similar types of food," said study author Dr Aaron Greenville. Source: Cats, foxes pose bigger risk to native wildlife than climate change in the outback

Attempts to list the dingo under national environmental law were launched in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2017 but failed because population data for dingoes and dingo-dog hybrids was limited, Dr Cairns said.

A spokesman for Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the dingo was listed for possible assessment as a threatened species, however that did not mean it would be approved.

"The department is following developments in dingo research," he said.

"It would consider these findings if an assessment for listing of the dingo as a threatened species were to be progressed in the future."

Dr Cairns said she feared that if the difference between dingoes and wild dogs was not made more clear, they could go the way of the thylacine.