In the first such case in Australia since 1936, a wild kangaroo allegedly killed a man who appeared to have kept the animal as a pet. The 77-year-old man lived in Redmond, a semi-rural area 400 km southeast of Perth, and a relative found him on his property in a seriously injured condition, a report in The Independent said.
Quoting the police, the report said the man might have been attacked by the animal earlier in the day.
The police had to shoot the western gray kangaroo because it was not letting paramedics reach the injured man, they said.
“The kangaroo was posing an ongoing threat to emergency responders,” the police said in a statement. They believe that the wild animal had been kept as a pet.
There are certain restrictions under Australian law on keeping native fauna as pets, according to the report.
Animal experts believe the attack was “not surprising”, NCA NewsWire reported.
“I’ve seen it … male kangaroos taking each other on and fighting. Their nickname is the boxing kangaroo and that’s because they do kick. Their claws are really big, and they’re muscly,” Hayley Shute, Australian Reptile Park life science manager, was quoted as saying in the report. “Their bodies are built for this … they’re built for boxing and they’re built for battle in some cases.”
She added: “The public sort of see kangaroos and koalas as fluffy, cuddly animals. I think it’s just important to note that they are wild animals and there’s a level of respect you have to give them.”
Not The First Time
Western gray kangaroos are commonly found in southwest Australia. Standing up to 1.3 metres tall, they can weigh up to 54 kg. The kangaroo that attacked the man was believed to be younger than a year old, a WA Today report said.
The last recorded case of a kangaroo fatally attacking a human was from 1936 when one William Cruickshank (38) from New South Wales state died at a hospital months after he had been attacked, The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper had reported at the time. Cruickshank was left with extensive head injuries and a broken jaw when he tried to rescue his two dogs from the kangaroo, according to the Independent report.
In March this year, a BBC report said, a three-year-old girl suffered serious head injuries when a kangaroo attacked her in New South Wales.
In July, a kangaroo attacked and injured a 67-year-old woman when she was on a walk in Queensland. She was left with bruises and a broken leg.
There are reports of urban development increasingly encroaching upon the habitats of wild kangaroos across Australia.