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11th Aug 2021

Tributes paid after baby girl killed by swooping magpie in Australia

Ellen Fitzpatrick

A heartbreaking tragedy.

Tributes are rolling in for a baby girl who was killed by a swooping magpie in Australia last week.

The little girl has been described as “perfect” and her death has “shattered the hearts” of her family and all of those who knew her.

Mia and her mum Simone were at a park in Brisbane when a hostile magpie swooped down at them from the air, with Simone trying to shield her baby from the bird.

While trying to protect her baby, Simone tripped while still holding Mia leading to the five-month-old sustaining severe head injuries.

Mia was rushed to Queensland Children’s Hospital but unfortunately didn’t survive her injuries.

To support the family, friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral costs and allow the parents to take time off work to grieve their tragic loss.

With a message written by the baby’s aunts, they said her birth in February “made Jacob and Simone’s life complete” and she was “loved by all who got to meet her”.

It continued: “Everything about Mia was perfect from her head full of hair, to her tiny little nose and her little long toes.

“Mia’s arrival made Jacob and Simone’s lives complete, they constantly doted over her, showered her with love, and shared her for all their loved ones to adore.”

Saying that on Sunday “beautiful Mia, at only five young months of age, grew her little angel wings and left this world for the final time” and her death is “shattering everyone’s hearts, and crushing Jacob and Simone’s world in the blink of an eye.”

They added: “No words can begin to describe the torture Jacob and Simone are going through. A life cut so short, much sooner than any one of us expected. Mia was and forever will be the light of Jacob and Simone’s lives.”

Another mum at the park that day says that her children were also attacked by the magpie, leaving cuts on their cheeks and pecking close to their eyes despite them wearing helmets.

The magpie has since been caged by Brisbane City Council and removed from the park.