WA police examine 'attempted abduction'

A man may have tried to abduct a boy from the backyard of a home in Perth's southern suburbs.

Detectives are investigating a report that an unknown man snatched the child from the property on Modillion Avenue in Shelley at 6.45am on Monday, but the boy managed to run away.

Police are conducting extra patrols of the area, as well as doorknocks and a forensic examination of the scene.