Rangers euthanise dingo after it attacked a woman on Australia’s K’Gari Island

A dingo that attacked a woman on Queensland's K'Gari island has been euthanised.

On Wednesday, the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service said it had killed one of the dingoes that injured 23-year-old Sarah Peet and was also responsible for the earlier hospitalisation of a six-year-old girl.

The QPWS said killing the tracked animal was a 'tough decision' but it was one that was supported by the Butchulla people, the island's traditional owners.

"The animal is around two years old, and when it was collared in April it weighed more than 17 kilograms, which is heavy for a wongari and a clear indication that it has been fed," the department said in a statement.

#BREAKING: A dingo involved in an attack on Queensland's K'Gari island that left a woman in hospital has been euthanised. #9News https://t.co/BsjhePpGuF

— 9News Queensland (@9NewsQueensland) July 19, 2023

"It was also clear from its behaviour that it had become habituated, either by being fed or from people interacting with it for videos and selfies.

"The animal had lost its natural wariness of people, and entering campsites or loitering around people is not normal dingo behaviour."

Shane Moffat, a local council worker, has described how he punched one of the dingoes as it attacked Peet while she was out for a jog on Monday.

Moffat and his wife Shauna were at the beach when they saw Peet 'screaming' and running into waist-deep water to try to escape 'three or four dogs'.

"I could see fear in her face that she wasn't in a good way," he told 9News.

"There was a big piece missing out of her arm there and there was puncture wounds all up the side of her legs."

Moffat forced himself between Peet and the dingo, and the dingo went to attack him.

"He was coming for me," he said. "When I hit him, he kind of shook twice on his head, but then he still lunged at me with a bit of aggression."

The Moffats managed to rescue Peet from the water and take her to the back of their ute, where the dingoes continued to try to attack her.

"The dingo tried to get her off the back, grab her off the back of the tailgate," he told 9News.

Peet was later airlifted to hospital in a stable condition.