Girl, 7, Seriously Hurt in Kangaroo Attack

Animal leaped on her in picnic area
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 4, 2012 12:05 AM CST
Girl, 7, Seriously Hurt in Kangaroo Attack
Kangaroos lounge at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park in Australia.   (AP Photo/Carrie Osgood)

A 7-year-old Australian girl suffered serious cuts and bruising in a bizarre attack by a kangaroo during a family picnic. "I thought I was going to die,” Makala McEvoy told Sky News. “Everything was gray, gray, gray.” She was playing near a group of kangaroos when one suddenly leaped on her, pinned her to the ground and began kicking her. "It was just jumping up on top of her and scratching her,” said her mom. "Honestly, I thought she was dead." Her stepdad leaped on top of the kangaroo to save Makala. The average male Eastern gray kangaroo stands more than 6 feet tall and weighs 145 pounds. The behavior is extremely rare for a kangaroo, but overpopulation can cause increasingly unusual human-kangaroo interactions, warn experts. (More Australia stories.)

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