Two police officers acted on instinct to drag a drowning kangaroo out of the water on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula. Footage shows the kangaroo bounding into the water at Safety Beach and getting into difficulty in the swell and breaking waves. Police rushed to the scene at about 5pm and dragged the struggling kangaroo out of the water.
“I saw him swimming and started filming but he suddenly got caught in the backwash of the waves so we got him out and waited for police,” local Mia Grant told Australian media.
Sergeants Christopher Russo and Kirby Tonkin dragged the unconscious animal out of the water and performed chest compressions to revive it. “He had less than a minute… he went under and as he came up you could see foam coming out of his nose. He was drowning,” Sgt Russo said.
“I grabbed his tail and Kirby cradled his head and dragged him onto the beach and cleared his lungs to get the water out of him. Then we just started to push on his chest and he started breathing again and I could feel a heartbeat,” Sgt Russo added.
The kangaroo is now recovering after the dramatic rescue. He was taken to a local wildlife center for further investigation. “We will let him recover at his own pace but he has a paddock full of grass and lots of water to drink and he seems very happy with that, director of the local shelter Animalia Wildlife told the media.
h/t: BBC News
