A magpie that blinded a four-year-old boy in one eye has been relocated from the Toowoomba park in which the attack occurred last weekend.
The male bird that swooped Seth McInnes on Sunday afternoon was yesterday trapped and moved away from the area, a Toowoomba Regional Council spokesman said.
The spokesman said officers were confident it was the same bird that viciously swooped Seth as he rode his bicycle near a playground in the West Creek Reserve about 4pm Sunday.
He said the bird was moved a significant distance away, rather than being destroyed.
“We went to the area that the attack occurred, found the bird and it’s gone,” he said.
“It was relocated. Certainly it’s not just three trees up the road.”
Seth was rushed to Toowoomba Hospital where his father Chris McInnes was informed Seth would probably lose all vision in his left eye before the four-year-old was taken to Mater Children’s Hospital in Brisbane for emergency surgery, which left him with four stitches in his eyeball.
Magpies are protected under the Nature Conservation Act, but can be removed if they become aggressive and a risk to human safety.
Earlier this month, the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Services ordered a troublesome magpie be destroyed after it terrorised a young girl at Tweed Heads, about 100km south of Brisbane.
However, the bird was granted a stay of execution as a result of community concern and outrage.
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