Police announced Tuesday that a man who may have been keeping a wild kangaroo as a pet was killed by the animal in southwest Australia. Reportedly, it was the first fatal kangaroo assault in Australia since 1936.
A relative discovered the 77-year-old man with “severe injuries” on his property on Sunday, 250 miles southeast of the state capital of Western Australia, Perth.
The injured guy was believed to have been attacked earlier in the day by the kangaroo, which police shot to death because it was blocking paramedics from reaching him.
The kangaroo posed an ongoing hazard to emergency personnel, according to the statement.
The individual was pronounced dead at the spot. The police are compiling a report for the coroner, who will determine the official cause of death.
The police suspect that the victim kept the wild kangaroo as a pet.
There are legal restrictions on keeping Australian native flora and wildlife as pets, however the police media office stated on Tuesday that they had no information to release regarding the victim’s permit status.
Tanya Irwin, who cares for macropods at the Perth Native Animal Rescue agency, stated that officials in Western Australia rarely provide licences to maintain kangaroos.
Irwin stated, “This appears to be an adult male, and they grow fairly aggressive and do poorly in captivity.”
“We don’t know what the circumstances were; if he was in distress or why he was being held captive, and sadly… they’re not a cute animal; they’re a wild animal,” Irwin remarked.
Irwin stated that her rescue facility always rehabilitates native animals with the intention of releasing them back into the wild, kangaroos in particular.
She stated, “You need a special permit to do it, and I don’t think they issue those very often unless you’re a wildlife center with trained people who know what they’re doing.”
Western gray kangaroos are prevalent in the southwest of Australia. They can weigh up to 120 pounds and reach a height of almost 4 feet. According to the Perth Zoo, these animals are herbivores that consume coarse grasses and a few bushes.
The males can be hostile and fight with the same methods they employ among themselves. They use their small upper limbs to wrestle with their adversary, their muscular tails to support their body weight, and their formidable, clawed hind legs to strike.
According to the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, “many people view huge male kangaroos as peaceful grazers,” but “in actuality, they can be violent against humans.”
In July, a kangaroo assaulted a 67-year-old woman on a walk in Queensland, causing her to sustain injuries and a broken leg, according to the BBC. In March, a three-year-old daughter had severe head injuries in New South Wales.
In 2017, a 9-year-old girl was mauled by a kangaroo in an Alabama zoo.
William Cruickshank, 38, died in a hospital in Hillston, New South Wales, Australia’s east coast, in 1936, many months after being attacked by a kangaroo.
Cruickshank sustained severe head injuries, including a fractured jaw, while attempting to rescue his two dogs from a huge kangaroo, according to The Sydney Morning Herald at the time.