Boy's eye damaged in vicious magpie attack

Boy's eye damaged in vicious magpie attack

As far as magpie attacks go, Queensland boy Cameron Nielsen suffered one of the worst this season after a bird tried to savage his eyeball.

The eight-year-old boy was walking home from school when the magpie swooped, piercing through his eyelid and scratching his eyeball, the Daily Mail reports.

Cameron had to undergo surgery after what was the most severe reported attack this season, according to Frank Mills of the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.

"It went through his eyelid and scratched his eyeball across his pupil and onto the white area - it's not deep, but long," Cameron's mum Skye Nielsen says.

She rushed to Cameron's school after hearing what had happened, and within a few hours he was complaining he couldn't see properly.

Cameron then had to endure a 500km trip from Gladstone to the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital, where he underwent surgery.

Ms Nielsen told the Daily Mail the procedure was a success, with Cameron "fine and back to his normal self".

However, they'll need to make a trip back to the hospital every two weeks for checks, and he'll need to be sedated again to have the stitches removed in 10 weeks.

Magpies, particularly males, can become aggressive and swoop during the breeding season as a way to protect their nest.

Newshub.