A young girl has been flown to hospital after she was attacked by a dingo on Australia’s K’gari-Fraser Island.
The primary school-aged child was swimming when the dingo “tried to grab her and reportedly held her under water for a few seconds”, rescuers said.
Nearby family members freed her from the dingo, but she received bites to her head and fingers.
Paramedics treated the girl at the scene before she was airlifted to hospital in a stable condition.
The LifeFlight air ambulance said its crew was called into action at 16.40 local time on Monday.
The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) said it believed the girl was swimming in a shallow lagoon when the dingo approached from behind and grabbed her by the head.
The animal involved is thought to be an untagged male, and rangers are investigating the incident, QPWS said in a statement.
“QPWS extends its sympathies to the girl and her family, and wishes her a speedy recovery,” it added.
K’gari-Fraser Island in Queensland, a popular tourist destination with World Heritage status, is also home to some 200 wild dingos.
There are strict rules against feeding them, with heavy fines for offenders.
Last year, a five-year-old boy was airlifted to hospital with bites to his head, arm and buttocks after another beach attack.
In 2001, a nine-year-old boy was killed near a campsite on the island, in Australia’s first fatal dingo attack since the disappearance of nine-week-old Azaria Chamberlain at Uluru-Ayers Rock in 1980.
