Australia AUSTRALIA - 4YO AUGUST (GUS) Missing from rural family home in Outback, Yunta, South Australia, 27th Sept 2025

[MelmothTheLost]

Not all experts are saying the same thing Charlie Bezzina says animal in the recent A Current Affair segment.

Posters and commentators keep circling back to "animal", yet it appears that there is no animal in the area capable of making a child disappear without a trace. Ie, this would require an animal large enough to remove the body far enough to take it outside the search perimeter or drag it underground, or to completely consume it. We're told there are no dingoes. There may be wild pigs in the area but none have (AFAIK) been mentioned specifically in this area.

There's a trope about domestic pigs being used to destroy a body without trace but in practice, while a pig can crush and consume most bones, it can't get its jaws open wide enough to get them around an adult skull to crush it. This may not be the case with a child's remains since the skull is obviously smaller and less rigid.

The question is therefore whether there are wild pigs in this particular area, but even if there were there would be some traces left behind, eg blood and clothing.

 

[HaydenMackaa]

Posters and commentators keep circling back to "animal", yet it appears that there is no animal in the area capable of making a child disappear without a trace. Ie, this would require an animal large enough to remove the body far enough to take it outside the search perimeter or drag it underground, or to completely consume it. We're told there are no dingoes. There may be wild pigs in the area but none have (AFAIK) been mentioned specifically in this area.

There's a trope about domestic pigs being used to destroy a body without trace but in practice, while a pig can crush and consume most bones, it can't get its jaws open wide enough to get them around an adult skull to crush it. This may not be the case with a child's remains since the skull is obviously smaller and less rigid.

The question is therefore whether there are wild pigs in this particular area, but even if there were there would be some traces left behind, eg blood and clothing.

I think if police had spotted wild pigs in the area they might have considered this and shot them to investigate.

 

[Toowong(s)]

Posters and commentators keep circling back to "animal", yet it appears that there is no animal in the area capable of making a child disappear without a trace. Ie, this would require an animal large enough to remove the body far enough to take it outside the search perimeter or drag it underground, or to completely consume it. We're told there are no dingoes. There may be wild pigs in the area but none have (AFAIK) been mentioned specifically in this area.

There's a trope about domestic pigs being used to destroy a body without trace but in practice, while a pig can crush and consume most bones, it can't get its jaws open wide enough to get them around an adult skull to crush it. This may not be the case with a child's remains since the skull is obviously smaller and less rigid.

The question is therefore whether there are wild pigs in this particular area, but even if there were there would be some traces left behind, eg blood and clothing.

Such evidence may still be very hard to find by search efforts if Gus made it, say 3-4km away from homestead, in an unknown direction, and then came into contact with pig/dog/snake. The main search focused on a 2.5km radius which is a huge area.

The family search started around 5.30 by which time Gus had up to 30 minutes head start. Searchers would have concentrated around the sand mound where he was last seen, the house and outbuildings while Gus could still have been wandering ever further away, into the night.

Very implausible for a 4 year old to make it that far, and keep going in the dark, but IMO not impossible, and animals or not he’s unlikely to survive very long out there.

I don’t think it’s criticising police efforts to consider these scenarios - from police point of view it would seem everything reasonable has been done in the circumstances, but Gus may still be out there somewhere undetected IMO. I trust SA police to follow the book to the letter. Until we know what happed I don’t think the idea that he is still out there somewhere can be ruled out 100%.

If we could rule it out 100% then we’re really saying it must be abduction or an accident/murder/cover up aren’t we?

I’m holding out hope the drone scan from 1 week ago was able to search more thoroughly, and also further afield. Media said it would take up to 2 weeks to analyse the results. 1 week to go….

 

[Lady-J]

So am I right in saying Gus & mum live at grandparents farm , and that Gus ‘s father didn’t live there ?

That’s what we’ve been told

 

[Dotta]

Re the typical characteristics of a 4-year-old from teacher's perspective - me

The behavior of a 4-year-old is characterized by strong emotional and social development,
a four-year-old's rebellion
and great curiosity about the world.

The child is energetic and impulsive, experiences strong emotions,
which can be expressed openly, e.g. by crying, screaming, and sometimes aggression.

At this age,
the child begins to test boundaries,
resist, and the behavior can be difficult to control.

In the cognitive sphere,
a 4-year-old is very curious,
asks a lot of questions and has vivid imagination.

JMO

 

[Lady-J]

Posters and commentators keep circling back to "animal", yet it appears that there is no animal in the area capable of making a child disappear without a trace. Ie, this would require an animal large enough to remove the body far enough to take it outside the search perimeter or drag it underground, or to completely consume it. We're told there are no dingoes. There may be wild pigs in the area but none have (AFAIK) been mentioned specifically in this area.

There's a trope about domestic pigs being used to destroy a body without trace but in practice, while a pig can crush and consume most bones, it can't get its jaws open wide enough to get them around an adult skull to crush it. This may not be the case with a child's remains since the skull is obviously smaller and less rigid.

The question is therefore whether there are wild pigs in this particular area, but even if there were there would be some traces left behind, eg blood and clothing

One would think so unless pigs like eating boots, hats and clothing

 

[LadyL]

Our dear late kelpie.

sorry for your loss of your sweet doggo

 

[Toowong(s)]

One would think so unless pigs like eating boots, hats and clothing

I know a dairy cow that ate a thick rubber safety work glove once! Left behind on the ground by a drilling contractor. And got very sick with internal blocking, but thankfully saved by the vet (and another long rubber glove, ironically). Contractor paid the vet bill. His name was on the glove.

I think pigs eat anything, and I’m not ruling anything out 100% but I don’t think a pig ate poor little Gus. IMO

 

[whitelilac]

Photos of the scrub vegetation (and searchers) around the family station (first 3 top), compared to the chaparral vegetation in the Malibu Canyon area in CA (bottom). similar.

I mentioned before the large scale air and ground search for a missing person (Mitrice Richardson), who was not found during that search.
Her remains were eventually found months later near a dry creek bed, by hikers I believe.

Gus was a small child. He could have curled up in the fetal position under or in the brush, if he was cold, scared and in distress. It's said that lost children, in nature, tend to do that for self-comfort.
Mitrice was an adult.
It's POSSIBLE he simply has not been found in that expanse, IF he indeed left the homestead.

I'm sure that the searchers were thorough and committed, did everything in their power to find him. But missing people are sometimes simply missed. Same applies to the open desert-like land of Joshua Tree national Park (CA), the names of missing people eventually found whose names I cannot remember now.