A nine-year-old boy was yesterday mauled and killed by dingoes in Queensland, Australia, during an attack in which his seven-year-old friend managed to escape by outrunning the wild dogs.
The boy was camping with his family on the popular Fraser Island resort when tragedy struck.
The two boys had been walking along a beach track early in the morning when they came across a small group of the island's estimated 200 dingoes. The animals began to follow the boys, and the youngsters attempted to run away. But while the younger of the two managed to escape the other boy tripped and was caught by the animals and savaged.
The dead boy's father is thought to have been on the scene within minutes of the alarm being raised by the seven year-old, but his son was dead by the time he arrived.
Two of the dingoes known to have been involved in the fatal attack were tracked down and destroyed within hours. The man's six-year-old son, the brother of the dead boy, was attacked by the dogs around the same time as his brother's body was found.
However, while he was badly mauled he was taken by rescue helicopter to Hervey Bay Hospital where his condition was said not to be life-threatening.
As news of the attack sank in with the local community feelings of horror quickly turned to anger as Fraser Island residents accused local park rangers of having ignored dingo attacks in recent months.
Backpackers visiting the island were also blamed for the tragedy as many ignored warnings not to feed the animals. When they are fed by humans instead of hunting for their food they can become dangerous when they get hungry and want more food.
"They are supposed to be regarded as wild animals, but the backpackers, even though they have been told to leave the dingoes alone, keep feeding them," said Ms Norma Hannant, owner of the local Cathedral Beach Resort.
"It had to happen, there is no doubt about it, because of the situation with the dingoes on Fraser Island. We are just going to have more culling of dingoes or we let them kill children."
Fraser Island is a very popular spot for Irish backpackers.
