K’gari: Crazed dingo bites girl, 5, on the thigh before another of the wild dogs chases a little boy into the ocean at holiday hotspot
Rangers are investigating two encounters between children and dingoes at popular holiday destination K’gari in recent days.
The five-year-old girl was bitten on the thigh after she ran from a dingo near Watoomba Beach on the Queensland sand island about 3pm on Sunday.
According to the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS), the girl had wandered away from a large group of people she was with when a nearby dingo ran towards her at full speed and bit her on the thigh.
Rangers are investigating two encounters between children and dingoes at popular holiday destination K’gari in recent days (file image)
The terrified girl stopped and was bitten on the thigh again before an adult intervened and scared the animal away by waving his hat.
A doctor stationed at a camp on the island treated a girl who had suffered a laceration and a bite on her thigh.
A boy was chased into the water by a dingo on Monday after he became frightened and ran away from the animal, which was sleeping under a car.
“The dingo ran at speed towards the boy, rangers ran through the water and the parents also ran after the boy,” QPWS said in a statement.
“The dingo lunged, attempting to bite, but did not make contact.”
Rangers say the dingo was a juvenile in both cases and are now trying to determine if it was the same animal.
The five-year-old girl was bitten on the thigh after escaping from a dingo near Watoomba Beach on Queensland’s sandy island about 3pm on Sunday (file photo)
A series of incidents earlier this year led to rangers euthanizing one dingo that bit a woman on the thigh while she was visiting a heritage-listed island.
Rangers tagged the dingoes in January but noticed an increase in behavioral problems including stealing food, insistently approaching people, following, circling, lunging, nipping and biting.
The dingoes or dingoes involved in the latest incidents have not been tagged.
In July, a 24-year-old woman was taken to hospital with multiple bites after she was attacked by at least three dingoes while jogging on the beach.
Earlier that month, an eight-year-old boy was taken to hospital after he was bitten and scratched when his family was approached by two dingoes.
Rangers have so far rejected calls to eradicate the island’s dingo population and blamed the behavior of visitors for the sharp rise in incidents.