"Cute and Cuddly" I Think Not!
Kangaroo mauls elderly NSW woman
17:12 AEST Sat Jul 19 2008 National Nine News
A 65-year-old woman mauled by a kangaroo on her central western NSW farm is lucky to be alive, with the animal only stopping its attack when it was chased away by the farm dog, her son says.
Rosemary Neal was rushed to Mudgee Hospital suffering facial lacerations and other injuries, after being attacked on her nearby farm on Friday afternoon while checking on horses in a paddock.
Her son Darren said his mother was lucky to be alive after being attacked by the male kangaroo - which he estimated to have been up to two metres tall, and weighing 100kg.
He said Mudgee had become overrun by kangaroos in the past two years, with the animals now congregating on many of the rural properties.
"There would be a couple of hundred kangaroos within a hundred metres of the house, and on Friday night she was just walking down the paddock to check on the horses before it was dark," he said.
"A lot of kangaroos have just bolted, but the males don't care, they just stay laying down, they're not scared.
"The kangaroo has just jumped up and launched straight at her. He hit her once and she just dropped and rolled. My dog heard her screaming and bolted down and chased him off.
"It it wasn't for the dog she'd probably be dead."
Mr Neal said his mother was in a "bad way", but had been discharged from hospital late Friday night.
"My mum is 65 years old and about five-and-a-half foot," he said.
"Her face has been ripped apart, her hand has been mauled, and she's got scratches all over her back and concussion.
"Her whole body is sore where she has dropped to the ground."
Mr Neal said the people in Mudgee had been complaining about the kangaroo problem for a number of years, but nothing had been done about it.
He now feared someone else may be mauled by one of the animals - particularly one of the town's children.
"The whole town has been complaining about these kangaroos - you can't drive down the street without swerving to miss them," he said.
"We've seen little kids running through the paddocks, and if they run over one of those big ones they won't last two seconds."
Not to mention the Tassie devil, they'll rip a finger off and thats when there in a good mood :)
the boxing kangaroo at his best.
people shouldn't upset the koalas either.