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Officials Order The Death Of Two Magpies For Injuring Loads of Aussies

Officials Order The Death Of Two Magpies For Injuring Loads of Aussies

Two injuries from the birds were so severe that the victims required eye surgery after the magpies swooped and pecked their eyes.

Jessica Lynch

Jessica Lynch

It's magpie season Down Under, which means that across the country Aussies are on high alert as they venture outdoors in fear of being swooped by the angry bird as it defends its nest against literally everyone.

While maggie season is generally limited to young kids walking to school with an ice cream bucket with eyes drawn on it on their heads, it looks like things a getting hectic for a town in Victoria.

Two magpies responsible for a series of attacks on five people were approved to be killed by Gippsland authorities after Wellington Shire Council arranged to euthanise the birds that had attacked a slew of people outside Sale shopping centre on a number of occasions.

The first bird was put down last month, while the second magpie will now also be destroyed after another three people were attacked in the same area outside the mall last week.

Describing the brutal attack by one of the birds in September that almost left him without an eye, James Glindemann, 68, explained to ABC that he had been eating his lunch at a park bench, outside of the Gippsland Centre in Sale, eastern Victoria, when he was suddenly swooped by the bird.

"I sat down at a bench there and the magpie came up and I started talking to it because I like them," he said.

"And it looked at me and I didn't give it any food, so it just attacked me.

"First it struck my left eye and when it landed back on the ground, I didn't drop my food and so it attacked me again in the right eye."

Despite the attack being over in a matter of seconds, James said the injuries were serious.

"There was some blood that was dripping at one stage and it covered my eyes ... I could barely see, but I managed to find my car and I rang triple-0," he said.

He was then quickly rushed to Gippsland Hospital, before being flown to Melbourne for surgery to repair the damage to his eye.

"It turned out there was no actual damage to the right eyeball itself, but the area around it was very inflamed," Glindemann said.

"But the magpie seems to have penetrated the cornea in my left eye and so the doctors repaired that.

"I think the procedure took about two hours. My vision in both eyes are blurred at the moment ... but I think doctors are confident that my sight will come back."

Featured Image Credit: Pixabay

Topics: Animals, Australia