An Australian man was lucky to survive with only minor injuries after an encounter with what he describes as a "six-foot mad roo trying to rip my little dogs out of the yard." Cliff Des, who lives in central Victoria state, tells 9News that he ended up fighting for his life after trying to shoo the kangaroo away from a distance of more than 30 feet. He says the animal started chasing him, and that he tried to fight it off with a stick that "snapped like a carrot"; he ultimately managed to wrestle it to the ground.
"It tried to gouge my face. I put my head down so it gouged me on the top of my head. It bit my finger," the 59-year-old former boxing trainer says. "Then it put its back claw through my leg, about an inch-and-a-half through my back leg, shredded my pants down to the cuff." The kangaroo fled after a clash that lasted more than six minutes. Des says that if he hadn't taken the kangaroo to the ground, its sharp claws could have opened him up "like an envelope."
Wildlife expert Ian Temby says Des is lucky to be alive because the kangaroo could have done "real damage" with its powerful hind legs. People who encounter kangaroos should "crouch down, back away," says Temby, per Local 12. "Don't wave your arms, don't stand up toward him because you're likely to come out stuck." Des says kangaroos are an "Australian icon" and he won't hold a grudge against them. "What I can take from the whole scenario is just don’t go near them," he says, per news.com.au. (A ranger blamed Sarah Jessica Parker brand perfume for this kangaroo attack on a jogger.)
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