Kangaroo Attack Nearly Kills New South Wales Woman

As cute as kangaroos can be it is important to remember they are wild animals:

 

A 65-year-old woman mauled by a kangaroo on her central western NSW farm is lucky to be alive, with the animal only stopping its attack when it was chased away by the farm dog, her son says.

Rosemary Neal was rushed to Mudgee Hospital suffering facial lacerations and other injuries, after being attacked on her nearby farm on Friday afternoon while checking on horses in a paddock.

Her son Darren said his mother was lucky to be alive after being attacked by the male kangaroo – which he estimated to have been up to two metres tall, and weighing 100kg.

He said Mudgee had become overrun by kangaroos in the past two years, with the animals now congregating on many of the rural properties.

“There would be a couple of hundred kangaroos within a hundred metres of the house, and on Friday night she was just walking down the paddock to check on the horses before it was dark,” he said.

“A lot of kangaroos have just bolted, but the males don’t care, they just stay laying down, they’re not scared.

“The kangaroo has just jumped up and launched straight at her. He hit her once and she just dropped and rolled. My dog heard her screaming and bolted down and chased him off.

“It it wasn’t for the dog she’d probably be dead.”

Mr Neal said his mother was in a “bad way”, but had been discharged from hospital late Friday night.  [AAP]

I’m glad Ms. Neal is alright but I think it is important for people to realize that the vast majority of kangaroos will hop away when approached.  However, occasionally you get a big male kangaroo that is not scared of you and looks at you as a threat to his mob.  I have had this happen to me before and I just walk away from the kangaroo to show him that I am not a threat and he is still the superior male.

Hopefully the kangaroo that harmed Ms. Neal isn’t shot and killed over this because he was just doing what wild kangaroos do.  However, if he is shot and killed I know what they can do with him.