NewsHail
23 May 2025
A strong kangaroo tried to drown a man in Australia after the two started fighting.
Don James said he had to fight for his life. The kangaroo held him under water on the side of a road near Port Macquarie. He got away only when the animal got scared and ran off.
Kristy Lees saw the fight in her car’s mirror. She told the BBC, “It’s not every day a big kangaroo attacks someone. Even in Australia, this is rare.”
She thinks the kangaroo was upset and trapped after heavy floods hit New South Wales. Five people died in the floods.
Kristy and her husband were driving to check the water levels at about 9 a.m. on Friday. Two men told them a “really big” kangaroo was near a parked car.
They saw it right away — it was as big as the car next to it.
The kangaroo then jumped at Kristy’s car. She had slowed down so she wouldn’t scare it. But it came around the car and saw Don James walking away.
It ran after him.
“They started boxing,” Kristy said. “I saw them throwing punches in the mirror.”
Mr. James ran backward, then fell into some water on the side of the road.
Kristy said, “The kangaroo was holding him down. It tried to drown him.”
She told her husband to get out of the car and help. But just then, another car came. The kangaroo got scared and ran off. Mr. James ran toward Kristy.
He told her, “The kangaroo tried to drown me.” She had seen it all.
“I remember being under water, kicking, yelling, and fighting,” he told ABC. “It was very scary.”
Kangaroos have been known to try to drown animals like dogs. Expert Graeme Coulson said they go to water when scared. He said his neighbor’s two dogs were killed this way.
“They do it to protect themselves,” he said. But that might not comfort Mr. James.
He also told Kristy that last year he fought off a great white shark.
“I think animals are trying to kill me,” he said.
The BBC tried to contact him for more comments.
