A magpie has been destroyed after it attacked two toddlers on the same day, causing serious damage to one boy’s eye.
Two toddlers were rushed to hospital on Sunday after they were swooped and attacked by the same magpie within hours of each other at Whiteman Park in Perth’s north.
Jacob Gale, one, underwent emergency surgery on Sunday after the bird punctured his left eye and left him possibly blind for life in one eye.
Jacob Gale (pictured in hospital) was with his family at Whiteman Park in Perth’s north-east on Sunday when a magpie swooped, landed on his face and punctured his eye with its beak
‘It almost looked like it was sitting there then it flapped and hovered around, then he screamed out in terror,’ Jacob’s father Adam Gale said on Monday.
Doctors needed to remove the lens in Jacob’s eye because it was so badly damaged.
They said it would be days before they could find out whether he would regain his sight or not.
Doctors told Jacobs parents they would only know if long term damage was caused when the one-year-old could communicate with them.
Three-year-old Bodee White was swooped three times by the same male bird on Sunday.
Bodee was scratched on the face and on the eyeball, but did not sustain permanent damage.
Three-year-old Bodee White (pictured) was swooped three times by the same male bird on Sunday
Bodee’s mother Rebecca said Bodee ‘obviously got very distressed and started screaming’
While neither of the boys’ families wanted the bird destroyed, the decision was out of their hands.
A Department of Planning spokeswoman told AAP the magpie was ‘euthanised humanely’ on Wednesday.
‘It posed a clear danger to the public and was positively identified as the dangerous bird,’ she said.
The spokeswoman said there were magpie warning signs at Whiteman Park but the danger was too high.
She urged caution as magpie breeding season was underway, which meant swooping was at its worst.
The one-year-old Perth boy had eye surgery on Sunday but doctors told the family it could be weeks before they found out if Jacob would regain his eyesight
Parks and Wildlife officers said the magpie at Whiteman Park, where Jacob was attacked, was particularly dangerous (stock)
Parks and Wildlife officers said the magpie at Whiteman Park (pictured) had been destroyed