THE latest attack of a child by a large wallaby at White Rock has sparked calls for a cull of the area's growing mob before someone is killed.
Concerned dad Alwyn "Bones" Bailey yesterday said if he had not been there to fight off the 1m-tall wallaby on Saturday afternoon, he had no doubt his nine-year-old son Morgan would have been mauled to death.
"It’s deadset serious. Someone should get a gun and shoot the buggers," Mr Bailey said.
"They’re not just friendly, cute little wallabies any more – they’re killers."
The animal came at Morgan after he had been feeding bread to their horses in a paddock off Giffin Rd, near the Leichhardt Soccer Club grounds.
"This big fella came out and Morgan started to run and he started chasing him, making this roaring noise," Mr Bailey said.
"Morgan was absolutely screaming his head off.
"I had to belt him (the wallaby) across the face twice, then he came at me – he had his claws up, shaping up like a little boxing man.
"Then my young fella (six-year-old Bodine) grabbed a stick and he finally backed off," Mr Bailey said.
He and Giffin Rd neighbour Anita Coulthard said they knew of three other children who also were attacked by wallabies in the area on separate times last year.
They said there were now thousands of the animals in White Rock, competing for grass on ever-dwindling parcels of undeveloped land.
"I’ve been here 25 years and until last year I'd never heard of wallabies attacking anyone," Ms Coulthard said.
"I don’t want to dob them in because I love animals but parents have to be warned not to let their kids go out in the paddocks alone."
An Environmental Protection Agency spokesman said attacks on humans by wild wallabies or kangaroos were extremely rare, but animals that were regularly fed could become conditioned to seeing people as a source of food then become frustrated and aggressive if they did not get it.
Hand-reared male wallabies also were an attack risk, particularly to children because of their similar size and the wallabies trying to assert their dominance in the social hierarchy, he said.
The spokesman urged people to keep their distance and not feed wallabies.
Wallabies are protected and permits are needed to manage problem wildlife.
