Dingo mauls young boy in his father’s arms in Happy Valley, K’gari

A young boy was savaged by a dingo while in his father’s arms at a K’gari beach in the latest attack on the popular holiday island. 

The child, 8, was at the beach in the Happy Valley area of the island on Saturday evening around sunset with his family when he fell over. 

His father scooped him up as a dingo approached before the wild animal suddenly leapt up to bite the boy on the buttocks and scratched down his back, leaving puncture wounds and scratches.

A paramedic accompanied the boy and his mother to Hervey Bay, where he was taken to hospital for treatment, according to the Courier Mail. 

It is understood the family saw multiple dingoes approach them through the darkness as they walked on the beach.

It comes just weeks after a 10-year-old boy was bitten on the shoulder by a dingo and dragged under water. 

The 10-year-old was walking along the water’s edge on the sand island, formerly known as Fraser Island, when he was stalked and attacked by the dingo near a camping area last month.

He was rescued by his 12-year-old sister and was treated for puncture wounds to his shoulder and bruises to his collarbone.

It comes a few weeks after another dingo was euthanased following a string of attacks, including on a French tourist in her 20s sunbaking on the eastern side of the World Heritage listed island. 

Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science (DES) told the ABC that attack, which was caught on camera, occurred in April or May.

The decision to humanely euthanase the animal earlier this month was made after it had attacked multiple other tourists, including a seven-year-old boy and a 42-year-old woman.

Rangers said there have been multiple instances on the island where visitors required assistance after they were stalked or snarled at by the wild animals.

Assistant principal ranger Danielle Mansfield said tourists were failing to appropriately supervise their children, which on the island meant keeping them within arm’s reach of an adult at all times.

‘These animals are capable of inflicting serious harm, and they have bitten children and adults, and some are quite brazen and are not fleeing when yelled at or when someone brandishes a stick,’ she said.

‘People think it won’t happen to them, but it can happen to anyone and that’s why rangers are providing dingo-safe information to as many people as possible,’ she said.

‘We don’t want any incidents on K’gari, and people must understand that dingoes are wild animals and should never be fed or interacted with.’

Rangers say visitors who discard food or deliberately feed the dingoes have directly caused ‘the current and historic problems’ between the animals and people on the island.

‘This has to stop now, and people have to make (visitors’) personal safety and the safety of their friends and families a priority,’ Ms Mansfield said.

The dingo or wongari is considered native wildlife under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 and is protected in national parks.

K’gari is a World Heritage-listed island along Queensland’s southeastern coast and is part of the Great Sandy National Park, known for its long beaches, forests and pristine freshwater lakes.