Gold Coast animals: Shocking, bizarre and heartwarming stories of 2021
As if 2021 wasn’t strange enough, our winged, furry and slippery friends have made things even stranger, with savage bird and dog attacks, amorous snakes, and a sad end to a suburban kangaroo. GRAPHIC CONTENT.
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Gold Coasters love their animals, so it’s no surprise they enjoy reading about them.
This year there have been many animal tales to share – from the sad, to the bizarre and the heartwarming.
Here are the wildest animal tales from the Gold Coast in 2021.
Freak magpie attack
A Southport woman was left with seven broken ribs in a freak magpie attack.
Debbie Galbraith was on her regular bike ride to The Spit on August 27 when a magpie started attacking her head on Nerang St, causing her to lose control of her bike.
Three bystanders came to her aid after she fell off, with her chest hitting the ground.
After being taken to hospital, a full body scan revealed Ms Galbraith had suffered seven broken ribs in the fall which required surgery.
The Southport woman spent 13 days in hospital.
Because magpies live on Ms Galbraith’s street, she was too scared to leave her own home.
“The little exercise I can do is to walk to my letterbox, I can’t even do that anymore,” she said.
“The birds tend to fly at me. I’m absolutely petrified and I don’t leave my house unless I’ve got someone with me.”
Beloved Tang Tang bleeds to death
A large dog savagely attacked a family’s beloved pooch during a walk, causing it to bleed to death.
Arundel Springs woman Tina He said the attack happened on September 28 when her mum took their family pet named Tang Tang for a walk about 6am.
Ms He said she received a frantic call from her distressed mother about 6.30am to tell her Tang Tang was hurt.
Her mum said three unleashed dogs without owners had rushed up to Tang Tang, but one large black dog had bitten their 12-year-old Bichon Frise pooch.
Shocking images taken immediately after the attack show Tang Tang lying on the ground with blood on its face beside a large pool of blood.
The death has shocked Ms He’s entire family.
“Both me and my mum have to see a psychologist,” the Arundel Springs woman said.
“It was a big shock to her.”
Snake orgy caught on video
Gold Coast snake catching group Wild Encounters certainly lived up to its name after being called out to relocate an “orgy” of snakes.
Wild Encounters co-director Katie Eales caught the act on video after receiving a frantic call from a Currumbin resident in September.
“The lady who rang us was in quite a fret,” Ms Eales said.
“She said ‘I’ve got a pile of snakes here’.”
When Ms Eales arrived at the location, she found “four common tree snakes – three boys and one girl – having a bit of fun on a balcony”.
The resident’s initial fear turned to laughter when she found out it was a ball of mating snakes.
The team at Wild Encounters safely relocated the snakes.
Woman almost blinded by butcherbird
An unsuspecting diner at a popular Gold Coast cafe was left bloodied and bruised after she was attacked by a vicious bird while enjoying her breakfast.
Debbie Jones of Varsity Lakes was tucking into some toast at Burleigh’s Pretty Handsome in July when a butcherbird made itself at home on her table, joining the woman and her Kelpie Daisy for a meal.
But without warning, the bird attacked.
“The bird landed on my table and I gave it half my toast because it seemed quite friendly, I was happily chatting away with it but I turned my back to pick up my knife and fork and it just went straight for my eye,” Ms Jones recalled.
“I can’t believe how precise it was, it’s beak went straight into it. Honest to god I thought I lost my eye. It wanted my bloody breakfast.”
Another patron quickly came to her aid but believed her injuries to be minor at first: “I put the napkin up to my eye and when I took it away it was just full of blood,” Ms Jones explained.
Fortunately, the prognosis was positive as her sight remained unaffected and the nasty wound to her eyeball was expected to heal in due course.
Woman recounts horror dog attack
A Gold Coast woman had both hands badly bitten and spent four days in hospital after being attacked by an off-leash dog at a popular beach.
Coombabah woman Sarah Keevers recounted the horror ordeal to urge dog owners to be responsible and follow the rules.
Ms Keevers was attacked in November while walking her English Staffy “Hank” on a leash at Salacia Waters, Paradise Point.
She said a man and an unleashed dog were about 50m away when the dog “charged” towards her and latched on to Hank.
Both of her hands were bitten during the struggle as she screamed for help.
“I was very worried for my dog’s life and my life,” Ms Keevers said.
“There was a point where I stood there and thought, ‘I’m defeated, I have absolutely no energy left in me’.”
Passers-by came to her aid and the dogs were separated.
Ms Keevers spent four days in hospital to treat puncture wounds and cuts to her hands.
Hank suffered cuts to his lower back.
Both were expected to make a full recovery.
Whale trapped in shark nets
A mammoth two-day effort to free a whale trapped in shark nets in waters off the Tweed coast had a happy ending.
In August, a subadult whale was freed after an almost 22-hour mission.
It was the result many hoped for but feared was unlikely after rescue efforts were suspended a day earlier due to lack of light.
The rescue mission was launched after footage emerged of a humpback whale wrapped in shark netting miles off the Tweed coast.
Shark Control Program Manager Michael Mikitis said this outcome was achieved with the support of Sea World.
“This has been a significant joint operation out at sea over two days involving multiple vessels and crews. We did not give up and stayed with the moving whale throughout today while cutting away a lot of the remaining gear before nightfall,” he said at the time.
“Tens of thousands of whales migrate along our coast every year. Last year, there were just six whales entangled and all were successfully released.”
Tragic twist for kangaroo
An adventurous kangaroo that captured the hearts of Gold Coasters met a sad end.
The memorable marsupial, affectionately named Skippy, was spotted jumping around Southport, Labrador and Biggera Waters in October – even interrupting a game of cricket.
Many residents took to social media to share snaps of the roo as she spent the day venturing through suburban streets, parks and beaches.
It’s understood the kangaroo was spooked by people leaving the Chirn Park Street Festival.
A Wildcare spokeswoman said the female roo was then hit by a car.
“Rescuers spent a considerable amount of time trying to calm her down,” she said.
“She was spooked – they freeze from the fright of it.
“When it recovered and tried to get away, it got hit by a car.”
The injured kangaroo then hopped away to nearby parkland, where it’s likely she died, the spokeswoman said.
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