Karijini National Park dingo attacks young girl and mother

Rangers with a permit to kill patrolled the Karijini National Park, about 250 kilometers south of Port Hedland, as the problem animals remained at large overnight.

Fearless dingoes have been filmed circling the Dales Gorge Campground.

“Everything is scarier at night and the kids were scared for the first time in their lives,” said camper Drue Ballantyne.

His family of five spent a sleepless night crammed into a swag.

“He was trying to get through the swag, my partner used his headlamp and long stick to create that distance, said ‘Oi’ and it disappeared,” she said.

There have been three dingo attacks at the remote campsite in the past week alone.

On Wednesday evening, a four-year-old girl was bitten on the leg and her mother was pinched as she tried to protect her.

Both were taken to Tom Price Hospital in the nearby town of the same name.

On Monday, a six-year-old child who was bitten on the neck and arm also had to be taken to hospital.

Last Saturday, a six-year-old girl who was approached by an aggressive dingo had her clothes torn but was unharmed.

“They can become habituated and become quite dangerous in places where they learn to associate people with food and people don’t want to give up that food,” said Ecosure dingo expert Dr Benjamin Allen.

Rangers now conduct night patrols to identify problem dingoes and destroy them humanely.

“Campers traveling with young children will have the option to move to another campsite within the park,” WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions spokesperson Hamish Robertson said.

It is not the first time that dingoes have been a problem within Karijini. Three years ago, a toddler was mauled and left with serious injuries.

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