Baby dies after mother falls attempting to avoid swooping magpie in Brisbane’s south
A baby girl has died after suffering critical injuries when a mother fell attempting to duck a swooping magpie at a Brisbane park. The bird had been the subject of at least one official complaint.
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A baby girl has died after a tragedy in which a mother is believed to have fallen while trying to duck a swooping magpie at a park in Brisbane’s south.
The incident happened at Glindemann Park near the corner of Lawn and Steele streets, Holland Park West, just after midday on Sunday.
Questions are now being asked about why Brisbane City Council had failed to remove the magpie - which at least one resident had officially complained about, because of its overly agressive behaviour in recent weeks.
“We responded to reports that a mum had fallen with a baby in her arms, reportedly ducking to avoid a magpie,” a Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said.
“The Queensland Ambulance Service medical director and critical care paramedics responded and transported the infant to Queensland Children’s Hospital in a critical condition.”
The baby girl was taken to the Queensland Children’s Hospital in a critical condition but later died.
Police are expected to prepare a report for the coroner.
A young couple, who did not want to be identified, said they ran over to try and help the baby’s parents after they heard their distraught screams.
“I’ve seen shock before but this was beyond anything I’d ever seen,” the man said.
The man described how the baby’s father “did everything he could” and called Triple-0.
“I think it was really quite heroic that he was able to function enough to make those calls,” he said.
The man’s wife said paramedics arrived in under 10 minutes and stayed with the family for close to an hour.
She said they were both shocked and saddened by the incident.
“We’ve struggled, it took me ages to get to sleep last night,” she said.
“It’s sickening I suppose, seeing a family torn apart in one quick moment.”
A Brisbane City Council worker could be seen on Monday being swooped as he erected signs tape to cordon off the southern end of the park.
The magpie was captured by two council workers who took the bird away in a cage just before 3pm on Monday.
Resident Barry Stewart said he had reported the magpie to Brisbane City Council weeks ago.
“Eight to 10 weeks ago I reported this to the council because I got swooped,” Mr Stewart said.
The Courier-Mail witnessed at least five other people being attacked before the bird was removed.
Some could be seen bleeding from around their ears afterwards.
Resident Karl Taylor said he had “lost count” of how many times he had been swooped.
Mr Taylor said he did not know why the magpie had been removed earlier.
Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said she had resorted to always carrying a stick when she left the house.
“They just come from nowhere and attack you like a tornado,” she said.
Brisbane City Standards Chair Kim Marx said an investigation was underway into the incident.
“This is an extremely tragic accident and our hearts go out to the family involved,” Cr Marx said.
“A number of signs warning about swooping birds were in place around the area where this incident occurred and our officers have now installed several more.”
The council did no respond last night when asked how many complaints had been made about the magpie.
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