Australia’s first fatal kangaroo attack in nearly 90 years is believed to have occurred this week.
It comes after a man was fatally injured by one of Western Australia’s state marsupials.
The last reported fatal kangaroo attack was in 1936, when 38-year-old William Cruickshank died from serious head injuries.
The most recent victim was a 77-year-old man found seriously injured at his home by a relative in Redmond, 250 miles southeast of Perth on Sunday.
Police believe he kept the animal as a pet.
When emergency services arrived on the scene, the male kangaroo prevented paramedics from treating the man.
Police then put the animal down so they could reach the 77-year-old man, who died at the scene.
Western gray kangaroos can weigh up to 54 kg and stand 1.3 m tall.
However, they can be fearsome if they attack, grabbing rival kangaroos – or anything else – with their stiff arms, before swinging on their tails and unleashing fearsome kicks with their reinforced legs. hop.
Keeping native Australian creatures, such as kangaroos, is legally restricted – although police say they don’t know if the man had a license for the marsupial.
Tanya Irwin, of Native Animal Rescue in Perth, said: “It looks like it was a mature male and they are getting quite aggressive and they don’t do well in captivity.”
She added: “We don’t know what the situation was; if he was in pain or why he was being held in captivity and unfortunately…he’s not a cute animal, he’s a wild animal.”
Bill Bateman, a behavioral ecologist at Curtin University, said: “I guess if this kangaroo was treated like a pet, that it had become very used to people, it didn’t see people as threatening, and often animals in this situation begin to become aggressive.
“Maybe he was reacting to people like they were kangaroos, and he was defending himself, or he was being aggressive, or maybe he was getting ready to mate and he would attack people when they came onto the property.”
