A man’s morning walk with his dog ended in a dangerous encounter with a “monster” kangaroo over the weekend in Australia.
Although uncommon, kangaroo attacks on humans do occur. Earlier this month, a kangaroo attacked a 74-year-old man in Australia. The attack hospitalized the man, who needed stitches, bandages and antibiotics. In 2022, an Australian man who was keeping a wild kangaroo as a pet was killed when the animal attacked him.
Mick Moloney’s dog Hatchi nearly became a victim of a kangaroo drowning on Saturday when a seven-foot-tall kangaroo seized the dog and attempted to drown it in the Murray River in Mildura, Victoria.
Moloney, who is a former police officer and a martial artist according to a report by the New York Post, didn’t hesitate to fight the kangaroo to save his dog’s life.
“Morning walk with the pack, got close to the river and Hatchi was missing, next minute he comes up gargling, getting drowned by this monster. Never punch a roo in the mouth, it freakin hurts….” Moloney wrote on Facebook on Saturday afternoon. “It grabbed me and tried to drown me too.”
Moloney included a video that showed the brutal encounter with his post. In the 32-second video, the hulking kangaroo is holding the dog in the river.
“I’m going to punch your f****** head in,” Moloney warns the kangaroo as he approaches it in the video. “Let go of my dog.”
The two then entered into a brawl with lots of splashing. The pair separated and the kangaroo—sporting massive muscles and dangerous claws—lunged at Moloney before Moloney retreated to the riverbank to join his dogs.
The video has been shared widely across social media. Newsweek reached out to Moloney through Facebook for comment.
There are four species of kangaroo found across Australia: the red kangaroo, the eastern grey, the western grey and the antilopine kangaroo.
Karl Vernes, an associate professor of ecology at the School of Environmental & Rural Science at the University of New England in Australia, previously told Newsweek that most kangaroo attacks on humans are likely because a dominant male kangaroo has mistaken the human for another male kangaroo.
“They are powerful animals. Mostly attacks involve kicking people leading to bruising and puncture wounds from their sharp toe claws,” Vernes said.
Moloney told the New York Post that he walked away with some scratches on his arm, but he and his dog were mostly unscathed.
You can view the video here.