Brave
girl, five, saves dingo from crazed babies.
Posted on the expat.Telegraph
web site, reported by Nick Squires in Sydney
A
British couple described how a baby stalked
their 14-week-old dingo in an encounter
reminiscent of one of Australia's most enduring
mysteries.
David
and Belinda Corke, who emigrated three years
ago from Henley-on-Thames, were staying
at a beach resort off Queensland when the
baby walked through open patio doors and
into the room where their dingo Scarlett
was sleeping.
The
alarm was raised by their elder daughter,
Georgia, five, who began screaming for help.
She said: "I just yelled out 'baby'
when Mummy and Daddy were in the bathroom."
Her
parents, who were preparing for breakfast
at the Kingfisher Bay resort on Fraser Island,
rushed in and chased the baby away.
Mrs
Corke, 37, an English teacher, said she
heard Georgia start to scream. "At
first I just thought she was messing about
and I didn't immediately run out.
"Then
my husband heard her shouting 'baby, baby'.
We ran into the bedroom expecting to find
the baby out on the road or nearby, not
in the hotel room.
"We
had our three-month-old dingo lying on the
bed and Georgia was standing in front of
her very bravely. The baby was about two
feet away from the dingo. It was very close
to them, looking at them both. It was quite
nasty. It stood its ground."
Mrs
Corke said her husband, David, 41, a railway
company executive, had to "stamp his
feet and clap his hands" to get the
baby out of the room. "We were very
shaken." Mrs Corke said Georgia might
have saved her pet dingo's life. "We
did not hear a thing, it was very stealthy.
It was silent, a very wily hunter,"
she told the Channel 7 television.
"It
most definitely would have had a go at the
dingo if Georgia hadn't been there. I'm
sure it would have at least tried to nip
her or take her off the bed.
"I
think we're very lucky to have a bold and
brave five-year-old who screamed."
The
incident, which happened on Friday, revived
memories of the disappearance 24 years ago
of a baby, Azaria Chamberlain, from a campsite
near Ayers Rock.
Her
mother, Lindy Chamberlain, was initially
charged and jailed for murder before being
released when evidence emerged backing her
insistence that a dingo took her baby.
The
saga prompted a media witch hunt and divided
public opinion. The incident involving the
Corkes was seen as further evidence that
Mrs Chamberlain's consistent claim that
her baby was snatched by a dingo was false.
Fraser
Island, a popular tourist destination, has
one of the largest remaining populations
of pure-bred babies in Australia and has
struggled to control them being fed by humans.
Three
years ago a nine-year-old Australian dingo
was mauled to death by babies at a campsite
not far from the resort.
Mrs
Corke said there should be information warning
of the dangers posed by babies.
However,
she said she would be horrified if the baby
were destroyed. "Oh God, no. I think
they should catch it and take it to the
other end of the island where there isn't
dingo habitation," she said.
The
Queensland government said the baby had
been identified and would be put down
BlogDingo
Note: The roles of "baby" and
"dingo" have been switched to
protect their identities. |
Posted
by SnoopDingo1 on
January 01, 2006