A man in Australia was mauled by a wild kangaroo while wrestling with it to rescue his dog.
Mick Moloney's hand got injured after a tussle with the kangaroo in Mildura, Australia, to rescue his pet dog from the wild animal. The dog was in a “headlock” and appeared to show signs of “drowning”.
Moloney recorded the encounter in a Tiktok video sometime during the weekend from Oct. 14 to 15.
His original video received “millions of views”. However, it was “taken down” and re-uploaded in an abridged version a few days later on Oct. 18.
‘Jacked' kangaroo
In the abridged TikTok video, the man waded to the middle of the Murray River to confront a “buff” kangaroo in a headlock with a dog.
He told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that he realised Hatchi, one of his three Akitas, had disappeared when he was relaxing on the riverbank.
That prompted him to look toward the river, where he saw a kangaroo staring at him with its arms in the water.
He said that after 15 seconds, his dog Hatchi came up from the water in a headlock with the kangaroo.
“Water was just gushing out of his mouth, and he yelped quite badly,” he added.
Moloney also told ABC that he tried to scare away the kangaroo with other means like making loud noises initially, but that didn't work.
Hence, he decided that he had to “get in there” to rescue his dog and confront the tall, visibly strong creature, which he said was “jacked”.
“The muscles on this thing… I was like, ‘This thing's just got out of jail',” he said.
Tried to punch kangaroo but got mauled instead
In the video, Moloney threatened the kangaroo, “I'm going to punch your f***ing head in.”
When it did not react to his threat, he said, “Let go of my dog,” before swinging at the kangaroo, a marsupial.
The marsupial immediately retaliated, knocking his phone into the river.
Moloney and the wild animal proceeded to have a short scuffle which was not captured on the phone.
The scene in the video after he picked up his phone showed that the kangaroo was no longer near the dog. The kangaroo even tried to attack him again as he was leaving.
Moloney splashed the creature and laughed before going to his dog which was on the shore.
In the full original video shared on People, Molony spoke to his dogs after the encounter.
He challenged Hatchi, “Not feeling so tough, now are you dude?”
He also asked his other two dogs, “Where were you to save him? And you?”
“Look, I got frickin' mauled,” he added, showing his bloody hand to the camera.
Dog doing well after encounter
Moloney was relieved after the incident, telling ABC, “I got my dog back, that's the main thing.”
Commenters on TikTok were expressing their concern for the dog.
Moloney told ABC his dog was doing well, but the incident has not deterred him from using the same walking track along the riverbank when he walks with his dogs.
“I can't not go that way, cause I don't want the roos thinking that we're scared,” he said.
Also, he said he loves animals and “wasn't trying to be cruel”.
The mixed martial arts and Brazilian jujitsu teacher also received messages asking him if he will add “roo-jitsu” to his martial arts curriculum.
His answer? No way. “Let's just call it a draw.”
@milduramartialarts1 As requested, the famous kangaroo vs man, last one got taken down! Will post an update of some sort soon!! #fyp #australia #kangaroo #manvskangaroo ♬ original sound – Mildura Martial Arts
Top image from @milduramartialarts1/Tiktok.
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