A Seville Grove mother is demanding action after a magpie swooped and drew blood on her nine-year-old son’s head at Bob Blackburn Oval on Sunday evening.
Amy Johnston was at the oval with her family playing baseball when the magpie swooped her son Kurt’s head.
“We literally got to the park at 5.50pm, hubby and the kids were setting up to practice their baseball pitching,” she said.
“Kurt got on the mound to practice pitching to his dad and at 6.05pm the magpie swooped him and got him.
“I was on the other side of the oval and my other son comes bolting over and says, ‘Dad’s got to take Kurt to the hospital because he’s been attacked by a magpie.’
“I was like, ‘holy crap’, I freaked because it was a head injury, we didn’t know how bad it was, he wouldn’t let us touch it.
“He was crying but then we calmed him down.
“It was pouring with blood, there was so much of it.
“It just got him with the beak on the way through, he’s just lucky it didn’t go deep enough that he needed stitches.”
Ms Johnston said at the very least the City of Armadale should attempt to move the bird, which is believed to have swooped more people since Kurt.
“It sucks because it’s our local park, we can’t go down there because it’s not safe, we don’t know if it’s going to happen again,” she said.
Armadale mayor Henry Zelones said the city was investigating the incident but it was against the destruction of magpies.
“The City of Armadale works in cooperation with Department of Parks and Wildlife upon reports of swooping magpies to address concerns,” he said.
“The city’s practise on becoming aware of swooping magpies in its reserves is to install warning signage in the area.
“Consideration is also given if practical to erect temporary warning tape in the immediate area to limit access.”
