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Rogue kangaroo pepper-sprayed by Aussie police

Edited by GreenReaper as of 04:59
Your rating: None Average: 3 (5 votes)

What do you get when you mix a kangaroo, an elderly woman, and a pair of police officers in a sleepy Outback town? One very interesting story!

Last Sunday, a rogue kangaroo attacked Phyllis Johnson, 94, while she hung laundry in her backyard. Phyllis, who suffered mostly cuts and bruises, told the Courier-Mail from hospital in Charleville, Queensland that she tried to fight the marauding marsupial off with a broom:

I thought it was going to kill me. It was taller than me and it just plowed through the clothes on the washing line straight for me.

After being knocked down she crawled back to her house and her son called the police. Charleville police chief Senior-Sargent Stephen Perkins said his officers were forced to pepper-spray the kangaroo to avoid being injured as well.

The animal jumped away, then saw another officer at the back of the police car and went for that officer, and he also had to deploy his capsicum spray [...]. After that, it hopped away from the scene, but police could still monitor its location – it didn't go too far.

Fighting red kangaroosSenior-Sgt. Perkins said he had never before heard of police using pepper-spray against a kangaroo.

It did subdue the animal and drew its attention away for the officers, so it worked.

Nearby wildlife rangers were able to trap the creature, which was described as a male red kangaroo, the world's largest marsupial. Named after their ginger-coloured fur, red kangaroos stand up to two meters tall (six feet), and weigh up to 135 kilograms (300 pounds), although most are smaller and lighter.

Kangaroos rarely attack humans, and government official Mike Devery told the press that the animal will be examined by a veterinarian before a decision is made on its future. Initial observations found some muscle deterioration in one of its hind legs.

Comments

Your rating: None Average: 4 (1 vote)

I'm surprised someone so old can get attacked by a wild animal like that and not get a serious injury. Tough people in the outback it seems. I don't think I've ever seen a kangaroo in real life.

"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~

Your rating: None

Spicy kangaroos! One squirt and you're south of the border! Mmmmm... incapacitating....

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Ringtailed Foxread storiescontact (login required)

a freelance editor & writer and Fox-raccoon hybrid from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, interested in bicycle riding, reading and video games