A heroic dad has saved his baby son from a dingo’s jaws after the child was dragged from a camper van as his parents slept at Fraser Island overnight.
The family had been sleeping inside the vehicle when the parents woke to the sound of their 14-month-old son’s cries, which were “becoming more distant”, according to the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ) LifeFlight Rescue.
The father left the van to find the animal had already managed to carry the child some distance away, with other dingoes lurking nearby.
After fighting them off, the father retrieved his son and called emergency services.
The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) paramedic, based on the island, was the first to treat the boy’s injuries.
The attack is believed to have occurred at Eurong Beach, a popular holiday spot.
According to 9 News, the boy was left with “severe puncture wounds to his leg and upper body and head injuries”.
“The child’s parents were woken by their son’s cries, which were becoming more distant,” paramedic Ben Du Toit told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The dad got out of the campervan to investigate and found the dingo dragging the toddler away from the campervan.
“They also spotted several other dingoes in the area and near the vicinity, and he immediately ran up and grabbed his son and chased some of the dingoes off.”
The Bundaberg-based RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter was sent to the island at 12.40am, and the infant was flown to Hervey Bay Hospital where he is now recovering and in a stable condition with his family by his side.
There have already been a number of alarming dingo attacks on Fraser Island this year alone. In January, a six-year-old boy was hospitalised after being mauled while a French mother and her son were also attacked last month.
According to The Conversation, “more than half of the recorded aggressive incidents by dingoes towards humans happened when the person was walking or running, suggesting that a ‘chase’ response may have been involved”.
Experts also believe dingoes may attack humans on rare occasions due to scarcity of food, especially during times of drought.
AZARIA CHAMBERLAIN
The latest attack is reminiscent of the 1980 tragedy involving two-month-old Azaria Chamberlain.
During the night of August 17 that year, the infant disappeared during a family camping trip to Uluru.
Parents Lindy and Michael Chamberlain claimed she had been snatched by a dingo, although her body was never found.
Mrs Chamberlain was tried for her murder, and was found guilty in 1982 sentenced to life imprisonment.
She ultimately spent more than three years behind bars before being released after a piece of Azaria’s clothing was found near a dingo lair, opening new inquests.
It was only in 2012 — 32 long years after the baby vanished — that the Chamberlains’ claims were officially supported by a coroner.
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