12-Year-Old Girl Bit by Monkey on Family Vacation Receives Urgent Rabies Vaccine

A 12-year-old girl on a family trip to Bali was attacked by a monkey and rushed to a local clinic, according to reports. After receiving care, the family was hit with an over $4,000 medical bill. 

Sydney, Australia, residents Flavia McDonald, her husband and their 12-year-old daughter Lorena recently traveled to a popular tourist destination in Indonesia, according to News.com.au. The family set off to Bali as a last-minute getaway to celebrate Australian Father’s Day, which was on Sept. 7. 

“I had been to Bali many times, but it was a place I had since hesitated about with kids because of Bali belly (a term for traveler’s diarrhea). I thought maybe when [Lorena] was older … we could enjoy it more,” McDonald told the outlet. “But in August with so much rain around Sydney, my daughter had the idea of a sunny place for a holiday to give as a Father’s Day gift.”

The family, who departed on Father’s Day morning, stayed in a hotel in Seminyak — a beach resort area at the southern end of Bali. To avoid the rain already interrupting their trip, they traveled to Ubud on Wednesday, Sept. 10, to visit the famous Monkey Forest Ubud. 

McDonald explained the family walked around the park for about 40 minutes before sitting with other guests in an amphitheatre.

“Heaps of people were sitting, so my husband and daughter sat there too,” McDonald said. “We could see monkeys, but none literally on or around people. But within one minute, a monkey jumped on my husband’s shoulders … and within seconds it went from his shoulder to my daughter’s.”

She added: “She was paralyzed [in fear] and we kind of knew we couldn’t make any abrupt movements. So the monkey started pulling at her shirt, her pockets, looking in her top and as I got close to her to shush it away, within five seconds, it just bit her on the neck.”

According to the forest’s website, guests are instructed to maintain a safe distance from the monkeys, engage in only supervised interactions, avoid direct eye contact and take care of children — all of which McDonald claims the family followed. 

“I looked down at her neck, and I just said, ‘Oh my god,’” she remembered. “[Lorena] thought it was a scratch… but then we saw the bite mark with blood… The whole thing was just so fast.”

Although the park was busy, the mom said there were no employees nearby. So, the family quickly made their way to the park’s first aid station, where staff dismissed concerns of rabies because the “monkeys were very clean.” Staff instead bathed the 12-year-old in soap and water.

“She was bleeding … and I was just thinking, this is not enough. I was exploding inside,” McDonald said. “All my research was saying this was very dangerous and that she needs to go to a clinic with the rabies vaccine.”

When they arrived at a nearby clinic, McDonald remembered her daughter was still in “shock.” Lorena received two injections, one into the top of the bite and one at the bottom. 

“I have never seen her scream like the way she did in that hospital,” McDonald said of her daughter’s vaccine. 

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McDonald also said Lorena was prescribed “herpes virus B” medication — six tablets a day for two weeks.

An additional shock was the medical bill, totaling 69 million Indonesian Rupiah, which is over $4,100. Although the family had traveler’s insurance, it wouldn’t be distributed for a few days, so the family had to pay out-of-pocket.  

“If I had read anything like this, anything similar, I would’ve had a different approach to going to the park,” McDonald said. “I would’ve been a little more aware that something like this can actually happen. It ruined the trip for us.”