Wild dingo steals baby while parents sleep | 60 Minutes Australia

if Azaria Chamberlain was still alive she'd be about to celebrate her 39th birthday tragically though no one thinks of Azaria as an adult instead she's marked in our psyche is a two month old baby who was killed by a dingo at Ayers Rock LaRose it's now called but it's a manner of her death it still grips us with horror the cunning dingo into the tent where Tiny Azaria was sleeping and brazenly snatched her what happened was soem probable many including in the Northern Territory police thought it was impossible well tonight the terrifying story of a near identical attack that once and for all proves the dingo did it this is such a disturbing story let's start with a happy ending Brisbane this week a 14 month old hunter Alistair now seems totally unaffected by the horrendous ordeal from which the rest of his family might never recover I was driving and like was sitting in the back holding Hunter it's probably only ten minutes but it felt left out and I just I remember his cries just starting to fade and I honestly thought oh my god there he wouldn't be how this drama unfolded is extraordinary if the dog obviously had some familiarity with a campsite didn't know as you'll see the length this dingo went to snatch a baby is beyond belief the hiker that had declined Fraser Island 350 kilometres north of Brisbane is the world's largest sand island a place of wining light and endless beaches washed by the bluest Pacific Luc and Sarah alistair and their family are among the 400,000 people who come here every year to enjoy what's usually considered an unforgettable holiday an extraordinary place is a beautiful place looking forward to it for a long time and yeah we were just excited the kids were excited fraser island is famous for its dark mysterious forests it's freshwater lakes it's popular off-road campsites he's checking us out it's also famous for its wild dingoes sierra ears keep turning back she's watching she listening while dingoes are furtive and secretive I came to the island hardly expecting to encounter one but with Ranger Linda Baron Dorf we run the trail of a wild dog this is the female that's the alpha female for this area we've seen that female grow up I guess you'll have been taped in her first year and she should have if everything goes well she should have a little this year as well and that's where our role to try and mitigate risk of them becoming too habituated to humans comes in clearly this dingo was standoffish but it wasn't afraid and that can be the problem dingos hang around campsites looking for a free meal losing their ancient fear of human beings that's when they become dangerous a French tourist sporting the battle scars of a terrifying encounter and when Fraser Island makes the news a six-year-old boy mold on the same coastline in January the dingo attack on 14 month old hunter Alistair was the third so far this year Luc and Sarah had taken their little boy and his sister Harper for what was supposed to be a week-long Easter holiday Sarah's mum Shannon had also joined them and together they set up their Caravan at the one tree campsite on the islands popular eastern beach nice flat and had a bit of a June to shelter you from the wind so we're pretty happy so you thought this out fairly carefully and you wouldn't have seen any dogs around that can I know when we went to bed we went to bed about probably 10:30 you know secured all that rubbish and moved it away put packed all of our food away and strapped it down and yeah we're pretty experienced campers and we certainly know what precautions that we needed to take so about what time do things start to go wrong about it after 12:00 I would have woken up to cry and then I don't know exactly how long but seconds and his car I went from being inside the camper to to outside I don't know what went through my head I just I just sat up and said Loki's outside and Luke got up unzipped and ran out the door of the camper around the other side and he saw that a dingo was had him by the back of the neck and was dragging him off into the bush it was crying big tears and you could definitely hear it was outside and it was going that way and it just ran I just ran I didn't think from it when I got there that dingos got him by the back of the head and pulling him into the bush could you believe this no no it's a terrible story primal raw awful to tell and not easy to listen to but having survived the worst of human experiences being predated by wild creatures it's a story Sara and Luke feel compelled to share I just ran and yelled I was running up to kick the dingo but I didn't have to as soon as I got from meteor way the dingo let go of him and he cowered I think I would have been looking away from you I think no he was looking at me while dragging him so he's dragging I'm going backwards that's words yes right he sees you sees me he's looked back down he's done a quick more of a - back what did you say to him and I yelled very loudly but he did he did I picked him up but then he realized it was a lot of blood was home to still yelling in press it was screaming absolutely screaming and to be honest view that's looking back on it and at the time I was happy that he was crying because I was so scared and I did not want him to stop crying because he stopped crying so while this confrontation going on what he what are you doing I was right behind him and he brought him back in under the light and that's when we saw that there was a lot of blood I just started shaking uncontrollably and you woke up your mother I woke up my mom yeah grab my phones try and call emergency services and I grabbed a cloth for the back of his head but the ordeal was far from over while Luke had saved his son from being dragged off to his death they were now in an even more precarious situation as Saren and mother went off trying to get reception that's when a pack of them circled me and though the way I felt they were trying to do a sneak attack and try to pull hunter out from the behind me whose really dark it's very dark these are pack hunters and they're known to favor the attack on all the lone person how many dogs do you think were I oh nice I think I saw four that it's pitch black and you'd only see them if they'll two meters from you so they could have been more behind them and in this there was the feeling of them coming up behind you and as I lunged to them and yelled at them they'll back off and there'll be another one trying to come up behind me yeah how scary and hostile back at it you stayed remarkably calm yeah yes think kicked in adrenaline I was yeah is that a strength that you don't know you have until you're tested if I didn't or if we all didn't do our part we wouldn't have a boy still here and it was just we had to do it to be honest if we stuck around they would have taken us 100% they'll getting more cocky more like getting closer closer and closer and they would have taken me a hundred percent they would have taken me coming up seeing is believing you're upfront about the front babies from the bay how cunning dingo snatched the baby so do know came from down the back here as far as we know yes about the inmate date to save the dingo is dragged in from a chance man okay we're late and I felt I would live Calla copter the baby's dying star Sarah and Luke Alistair have always loved the wilderness but they live in a sedated leafy part of suburban Brisbane with their four-year-old daughter Harper and her baby brother 14 month old hunter who miraculously survived a dingo attack thus no apparent injury now back of the heads looking really good very well a couple of skirts a little bit in the back part all the main ones were in the hairline so we're very lucky as long as he doesn't go bald will be quite right the little hunter the wounds have healed not so emotionally to Luc and Sarah have decided to return to Fraser Island to revisit the very spot where the audio occurred it's a harrowing experience but one they hope will lay to rest the awful memories hoarsely pink yeah you're at the front throughout the front of the ten babies run back against threats that two kids are at the back in there it was the first night of a family holiday Luc and Sarah thought their baby boy was safe and secure tucked in bed meter off the ground in that camper trailer so dingo came from around the back here yes correct it's so high it's so high like hell how can i dingo do this it's not until you realize just how the dingo managed to snatch a couple's son you get a sense of how cunning and dangerous the wild dogs can be what evidence did you see of entry just so there I think that one was still connected at the end so the point is that these are dingoes that are so habituated to people that they actually know how to unzip things well things that much things away could easily just get its nose through back here his little sister was asleep on the other side so he must've experienced quite a force yeah missed the metal and fell into fairly soft ground very luckily the allister's remember every dramatic detail of these gruesome events on the night of Good Friday from it and then where do you think the dingo took him [Music] exactly here are your confronting the dog here yep probably got from two meters from him and he dropped them and meanwhile what are you doing I ran over and brought him back under the light and I called for my mum and yeah we just stopped straight on the phone and Sarah's mom Sean who was camping with the Alistair family that night was soon on the phone trying to raise help ambulance work to town or suburb of the emergency this week and fraser island in the dying light for the grandmother everything floods back as we listen to the replay of what is certainly the worst phone call I've ever heard the thing I was dragged him from a chance man okay we're late and I felt elevated Calla copter the baby's dying when you tell the operator the baby's dying do you actually think the band's philately I thought he was as soon as the service there was blood dripping off my hand and his head was just and it was just pouring everywhere for service I honestly thought I didn't want that I honestly thought by the state of the child that yeah all really wet True Blood my son-in-law tell priest against the back of the head now at this stage I mean a life is hanging in the balance I can only imagine how you felt yes terrifying these terrible silences when the line drops out yeah you're very calm you're not swearing yeah surprisingly yeah yeah they're coming they're coming darling they're coming you're coming he's not gonna die everywhere both hunters and his father's lives were now in real jeopardy it was pitch black but those they set the whole circle I don't know idea how they even circled me I was looking down and I look around me and there's dogs all around me they had this sense of the kill in their nostrils yeah definitely they I I could tell that they were trying to approach me from the behind and it felt like they're trying to rip hunter out of my arms adrenaline was kicking in yeah I don't know if was more afraid but having finally connected with emergency services shall now hurried the family into their 4-wheel Drive together they raced to the helipad at the Fraser Island police station I knew when I first looked at him we needed choppers definitely if he had to have any hope he had to be airlifted out at this stage no one knew whether the baby would survive well as I was driving and like was sitting in the back holding Hunter and that's probably the strongest memory I have from that night was that drive it's probably only ten minutes but it felt like now longest ten minutes ever yeah and I just I remember his cries just starting to fade and I honestly thought I only got their human the family was met by a rescue helicopter hunter and mum Sarah were flown to hospital this week merely the sound of an approaching chopper at the Fraser Island helipad evokes troubling memories the couple have returned because they want to show their gratitude to Brent Malden one of the airmen who helped save their baby's life again pretty easy to write when you know your kids are the same in your business you see people who are undergoing trauma or will undergo trauma as a result of what's happened just meeting them there how do you think they're bearing up I think they've done very well I think they put stuff into perspective through the their journey with this event that happened to the poor hunter and I've come out of it quite well Hunter's spent five days in hospital in Brisbane where he was diagnosed with a fractured skull he's had a bite here and you can see where the tissues been disrupted the blackest gas surgeon professor Roy Kimble sees more than 30 serious domestic dog bite cases every year although dingo attacks are relatively rare they're every bit as dangerous so Bailey measure this is serious this is very serious because you've introduced a lot of organisms into the tissues into the born and your your hair breath away from brain here now the the skull of a young child is more pliable isn't yes doesn't mean it breaks more easily it certainly would be easier to break with a dog bite but without medical attention this this could be could be fatal coming out the Fraser Island bingos too smart for their own good problem is that dog has become a danger had you hold it against the dingo through the dingo be punished and a family count their blessings it's day because we honestly thought we were gonna lose him Plus later in the program the man who went to the dark side of the moon he had ultimately to think it's responsibility I was there kicking home they couldn't get home without me on 60 minutes Sara and McAllister had returned to Fraser Island to the spot where just six weeks ago their sleeping baby son was viciously attacked by a dingo they're still coming to terms with the near fatal or legal though there was really nothing they could have done to prevent it happening there are no more precautions you'd have taken than the ones you already did take I mean what would you do differently now to be honest if you nothing pack a gun I mean there's nothing we could have done differently just unlucky things bad things happen to good people but we're still lucky he's okay you knew the situation you didn't consider it a risk to go there with kids no I think when you make decisions in life you base them off your own experience and our experience and you know Luke's family experience growing up was that if you respected that it was their Island and you you took the necessary precautions that you would be safe you know we would have thought that being in a camper trailer a meter off the ground that we would be safe as extraordinary as Luke and Sarah's story may sound so I'd leave that for wildlife Ranger and dingo expert Linda Barron Dorf there is no doubt it happened just as the allister's have told one of the things that interested me at the scene of the crime the dingo climbed at least this high to get into the car easily dingoes only that and even even on its hind legs it would have been yeah they they can get up on the roof the other remarkable thing was that it appeared to gain its own access Navigators zip fridge locks if you don't have a lock or a bit of wire in there they'll lift those they'll get into zips fail them well those those straps you know everyone buys them with the straps they'll chew on those and with those two to shreds and gain access across 2,000 square kilometres of forest and sand dunes and fraser island somewhere lurk about 300 wild dingoes most will never be seen the boughs that our seen have become audacious and opportunistic in their dealings with people and as we saw this week the fault lies entirely with human stupidity and carelessness he just looks like any dog you might meet in the street and the problem he is in a sense like your dog is descended remotely from wolves the problem with this dog is it still is a wild dog but it no longer knows somebody either drop that piece of coconut which it's eating now or somebody's deliberately feathered the problem is that that dog now has no fear of me no fear of anyone here no fear of children that dog has become a danger and it's no fault to itself [Music] this wild dog brazenly continues to forage in a busy campsite [Music] demonstrating just how cunning they can be in their quest for food while the tourists look on yeah wait wait it's left to paramedic Benja tois to drive off the dingo he has plenty of motivation he was a man or only six weeks before provided emergency treatment for the bleeding and injured baby hunter Alistair have you ever attended such a thing before I've been to several dingo bites on the island but not not anything severe I was traumatized for their family as this was serious there definitely was based on the circumstances it could have been much worse I think they're really lucky on that one looks with quick actions you hold it against a dingo dingo be punished I mean is this is the natural environment this is where they live and we the visitors to their environment so overall I think you know we have to adapt to them they can't adapt to us so yeah I think we just have to be more careful in their environment and Fraser Island they say you should never walk alone' certainly in those magnificent deep rainforests is not hard to get the feeling that you've been watched [Music] venturing into the wild world forest or ocean must always involve some degree of risk but we are the intruders here and it does seem wrong to blame the original inhabitants even the victims agree on that they're not a a pet dog yeah they're not a domestic animal that you can you know that's cute they're they're wild and you know they need to be respected as a wild animal you don't have any resentment the dog we have no resentment you don't want that dog to be hunted down not at all I think if everybody did the right thing then you know they would they would leave you alone and you know they wouldn't feel like that familiar enough that they could you know come into a campsite and and break into a camper trailer the way that they did with us and yeah I think it's definitely lessons to be learned from what we went through do you think about it all the time yeah yeah us to wake up yeah you do really yeah so he's it's deep isn't it it is cuz you yeah at the time we honestly thought we were gonna lose him so you you feel that you grieve like within an instant you you think about the worst and then even though everything's turned out okay we still have your dreams are that you lost them yeah we were so close to losing him that very thing about this on a regular basis yeah [Music] one night [ __ ] change your life forever no us well we've got each other and a strong family that's helped us out through everything it's been a pretty good team I mean nothing could bring you closer together than this [ __ ] excreting last night he's been a rock when I fall apart and then I fall apart she helps maids work we haven't fall apart together yet so it's been good [Music] hello I'm Charles Wooley thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 1,021,513

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Ellen Fanning, Ray Martin, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Jennifer Byrne, Mike Munro, Richard Carleton, Tracey Curro, Peter Harvey, George Negus, Ian Leslie, Gerald Stone, Sarah Abo, Lindy Chamerlain, Azaria Chamberlain, Uluru, dingo, dingo stole my baby, Fraser Island, rescue, family

Id: 5ZmzNtD51yk

Length: 26min 1sec (1561 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 03 2019