Aggressive magpie swoops young girl on Mandurah foreshore

Evie Markey and her family were waiting in the car park at King's Carnival when the magpie swooped her, leaving bloody scratches on the side of the child's face.

Her older brother, Zac, quickly ran over to shield her head with his arms before their parents realised what was happening.

Evie's mother, Chantal, said they were lucky it narrowly avoided her eyes.

"My first thought was 'thank god it didn't get her eyes', because it was so close and she was bleeding a fair bit," she said.

"I just couldn't believe how aggressive this particular magpie was - it was lashing at her with its claws."

The family then watched on as the same bird swooped another four people within five minutes, and they caught a glimpse of it in action once again when leaving the park a few hours later.

"You could see the nest hanging over the car park and it was just going backwards and forwards getting people," Chantal said.

"I know we all like to laugh about being swooped, but it's definitely not that funny if someone was to lose their eyesight.

"Evie was very lucky."

Chantal said she would like to see signage erected in the area to warn passersby of the aggressive magpie.

"I don't know if they can be relocated or not because they're a protected species, but at least just a sign around the car park to say there's a dangerous magpie in the area," she said.

"If I had seen a sign I definitely would have kept the kids closer to me and been more careful when we got out of the car."

The Department of Parks and Wildlife website states it is illegal to relocate a magpie without a permit.

To obtain said permit, the applicant needs to demonstrate that all reasonable non-lethal methods have been attempted and environmental impacts have been assessed.