'He was protecting me': Dog fights kangaroo for 45 minutes to save elderly owner from deadly attack
ALBURY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA: An elderly woman who was knocked down by a kangaroo was saved by her hero pet dog who fought the marsupial for 45 minutes until paramedics arrived at the scene.
Pam Baldwin, 71, was walking her Rottweiler named Bundy at Nail Can Hill in Albury, Western Australia when an aggressive wild Kangaroo pounced upon her from the back. The vicious Kangaroo kicked the elderly woman in the stomach and slashed her left arm. The attack left Baldwin in an unconscious state with her arm needing stitches.
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When her loyal companion sensed his owner was in trouble, he launched into action and chased the kangaroo away. But the vicious beast soon counter-attacked and tried to drown Bundy in a nearby dam, Baldwin said. The pair was eventually saved by the paramedics who arrived at the scene after Pam alerted nearby ramblers who called emergency services. The shocked witnesses noted the wild kangaroo was about 6ft tall.
Recalling the incident, Baldwin told Neil Mitchell on the 3AW radio show that she had a feeling that she is being chased by something. "I just got this feeling someone was behind me and I turned around and went "oh..." and he [the kangaroo] was just looking me in the face and the next minute he went bang. I gave him a few choice words and then I hit the ground," Baldwin said.
"I don’t know if I blacked out or he knocked me out but I remember Bundy coming and jumping over the top of me and chasing the kangaroo away. He was protecting me, he chased it away. Bundy fought the kangaroo for about 45 minutes. He wouldn't let the kangaroo come near me," she added.
Pam stated Bundy was just 20 seconds away from his death when the paramedics arrived at the scene and rescued them. Baldwin further said the aggressive encounter may have been due to the ongoing Kangaroo mating season. "I had an encounter with another roo a couple of times last year and he used to hide in the grass and you'd be walking along and the bloody thing would jump up at you," she said.
Kangaroo attacks aren't unheard of down under. Earlier this year, a kangaroo killed a man in West Australia’s south, in the country’s first fatal kangaroo attack in more than 85 years. Reacting to the growing kangaroo scare, Australian Reptile Park life science manager Hayley Shute said the citizens should remember how dangerous male kangaroos can be during the mating season.
“The public sort of sees kangaroos and koalas as fluffy, cuddly animals. I think it’s just important to note that they are wild animals and there’s a level of respect you have to give them,” she told 9news. “The icon, that picture of an Australian kangaroo, is usually a female kangaroo with a joey sticking his head out of the pouch and they look so cute and sweet. But for male kangaroos, part of their life and hierarchy within the mob is to take on the male that’s bigger than it. There’s a struggle there to become the alpha male and that’s part of a male kangaroo’s life and behavior."