Dingo attack foiled by Milo
A NORTH Queensland woman says she and her 10month- old daughter were lucky to escape unharmed after they were stalked by a pack of dingoes.
Katie Casey set out for a walk from her family property, 100km northeast of Hughenden, at 5.30pm last Tuesday pushing her daughter in a pram and accompanied by her mini fox terrier Cheeky and american bulldog Milo.
Ms Casey was several kilometres from the station when three dingoes snuck up behind her and started mauling Cheeky.
“I just turned around to check on the dogs and there were three dingoes a few metres behind me mauling Cheeky,” she said.
“I tried to wheel the pram to help her and then saw more dingoes on the side of the road in the grass, and the bulldog took off after them.”
Ms Casey took off her shirt and started waving it an attempt to scare off the dingoes so they would release her fox terrier, while her baby was crying constantly in the pram, which alerted the dingoes to more noise, leading them to eventually take off.
“I was just running and screaming and yelling to try to get them to let Cheeky go,” she said.
The dingoes released Cheeky and fled, scared off by the noise coming from a desperate Ms Casey and her crying daughter.
Ms Casey then ran back to the station, pushing the pram and carrying Cheeky in her shirt.
Milo, who does not usually go on the walks with Ms Casey, returned to the property on his own soon after, exhausted and with a few rips on his back.
Cheeky spent two nights at a veterinary clinic and is now recovering at home.
Ms Casey said she could not believe she was still alive and would like to raise awareness for others in the remote area who exercise.
“I’d hate to think if I didn’t have my bulldog and the whole pack stayed there, I don’t think I would have my foxy,” she said,
“I’ll probably never be walking remotely like this ever again.
“A lot of women exercise out on the stations now and no one takes weapons.”
Ms Casey said she was shocked at how easily the dingoes had got so close to her and her daughter.
“The most horrifying part was I didn’t see them or hear them; I just turned around and they were right there,” she said.
“When there’s a pack of them like that, you don’t know what they are going to do.”