Warning over dingo attacks as toddlers targeted in popular Australia holiday destination
Warning over dingo attacks as toddlers targeted in popular Australia holiday destination
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‘Dingoes will target children because they are seen as the weaker links of the pack’, said a senior ranger. Tourists have been warned to be wary of dingoes while travelling in Australia following a series of attacks on toddlers at a popular holiday destination in Queensland. Four bites by the native wild dogs were recorded on the white sands of K’gari (Fraser Island) in just one week last month.
On 26 January, a two-year-old was bitten on the leg in the car park of K'gari’s Lake McKenzie and required first-aid care from onsite rangers. Two children, aged four and 12 years old, were also charged by a tagged female dingo while swimming in shallow water at the lake three days earlier. The dingo bit the four-year-old child on the left shoulder, resulting in “superficial lacerations” before being chased away by the child's father.
In a third attack on toddlers, a three-year-old child was bitten on the back of the leg by a dingo on the beach near K'gari’s Kingfisher Bay on 18 January. Passersby used a kayak paddle to scare off the dingo that “kept a distance but was not deterred”. The same day, a woman reported being bitten on the leg by a dingo at Lake McKenzie after trying to stop the animal from taking her bag. Now, the Queensland Government has urged tourists never to feed dingoes, to walk in groups and to carry a stick to avoid negative dingo interactions.
The wild Australian dogs are generally not aggressive, but attacks on people and their pets have been recorded. Some dingoes that are considered to be aggressive are monitored by rangers with tags. Senior ranger Dr Linda Behrendorff told parents to keep children “within arm’s reach” as some dingoes target children as “the weaker links of the pack”. Dr Behrendorff said: “Visitors must not be complacent. People need to understand their risk when travelling to K’gari. Our message is simple: Be dingo-safe!”.
