Dubbo man Jack Keane attacked by water buffalo in Northern Territory

The 26-year-old was tracking pigs with his sister’s partner Justin Alford near the Daly River, 200 kilometres south-west of Darwin, on Monday when the pair were charged by the bull.

Jack was gored in the back of the leg, sustaining a wound about two inches deep and seven inches long.

“The buffalo charged him and lifted him into the air with its head,” Justin said in a statement.

“Jack was thrown into the air and landed next to a tree. As he was trying to get up the tree the buffalo charged again and hit him from behind.”

Justin managed to escape physically unscathed.

Once it was safe, he went to help Jake, who was “very pale” with his leg “covered in blood and muscle tissue”.

Justin tourniqueted Jack’s leg and helped him the five kilometres back to the family’s boat, where Jack’s parents, Peter and Helen, and sister Natalie (Justin’s partner) had dropped them off.

Peter, who owns and operates Bourke’s post office, said they hadn’t been concerned by the men’s long absence because “it’s country we’ve been in on and off for 15 years”.

But seeing Jack bruised from top to bottom, and Justin obviously shaken by the ordeal, they quickly realised the seriousness of the situation and leapt into action.

Helen and Natalie cleaned Jack’s wounds while Peter and Justin drove them, first by boat and then by car, to the Nauiyu nurses station.

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“They tried to clean it but they reckoned it was too bad so they contacted CareFlight and they flew him to Darwin, thank God,” Peter said.

“They were very quick to get there.”

The incident put an abrupt end to Jack’s holiday – he had only arrived in the NT on Saturday.

Jack is still recovering well at hospital in Darwin, Peter said, but is yet to receive stitches as doctors wait to see if his wound gets infected.

“All they could do was run. But you can’t outrun a buffalo,” Peter said.

“He doesn’t scare very easily my boy, I can tell you. But this gave him a scare.

“The country itself was known to him, but you just never know when you’ll get yourself a cranky old bull.”