Poppy Bilderbeck
A man has spoken out about the moment he took on a kangaroo in defence of one of his pet dogs.
Once when I was walking my dog, a raven swooped down and tried to grab it in its claws for an afternoon snack - presumably thinking it was an extra large rat (sorry Smudge). But a kangaroo is certainly something you'd wouldn't expect to encounter on your dog walk... Well, unless you live in Australia, that is.
Yesterday morning (15 October), Mick Moloney was walking his dogs by the river in Mildura, Victoria when he noticed one of his pets was missing.
The ex-police officer's dogs love swimming and so he scoured the river to spot where Hutchy could be. Little did Moloney know what his eyes would eventually see.
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**Warning: Contains footage of an animal and man in a violent altercation**
Moloney looked down at the river to see a 6ft 5inch tall kangaroo stood in the water, bulging with muscle and staring right at him.
As it continued to eyeball him, the dog owner quickly noticed the animal's arms were in the water and suddenly his pet surfaced from underneath.
The dog owner tells 7News' Sunrise: "Hutchy came up gasping for air, water spilling out of his mouth and screaming his head off.
"I was like, 'Are you kidding me?'."
Moloney didn't initially plan to go into the river, making 'a whole pile of noise' in a bid to scare the kangaroo into letting go of Hutchy.
But when it became clear it wasn't loosening its grasp anytime soon, the dog owner had no other choice but to act, reflecting on the encounter as 'surreal'.
Moloney ran into the water to take on the kangaroo and save his beloved pet and captured the altercation on camera.
In the video, the kangaroo can be seen holding Hutchy with both of its hands, the dogs head just about above the water. Moloney can be heard instructing the kangaroo: "Let go of my dog."
Thankfully, the kangaroo appears to politely oblige with the order, raising its arms, subsequently releasing the hound from its grasp.
Slightly ruining the gesture by then lunging to take a swipe at the dog owner.
The phone then falls into the water as Moloney and Hutchy scramble to get away, the kangaroo raising it's big arms once again.
Moloney came away with a few scratches after 'a bit of a wrestle' but thankfully he, Hutchy and the kangaroo are reported as being mainly unharmed.
Kangar-phew.