A hunter sustained serious facial injuries last Tuesday when the kangaroo he’d targeted ‘fought back’ – attacking the teenager who was in a moving
vehicle.
Joshua Hayden was in Kellerberrin,
Western Australia, on one of the frequent hunting trips he took with his brother, when he tried to shoot some animals.
‘Knocked
out’
Hayden
was leaning out of a car window, aiming his gun at two kangaroos, when a third
– who had previously disappeared from view – ‘charged his car’.
He
said: “It actually collided with the side of the car and smashed the front
window.
“Then
it bounced back onto me and headbutted me straight in the jaw.”
Hayden
was knocked out, and suffered a shattered jaw and cheekbone as a result of the
attack. When he
regained consciousness, he was confused, initially thinking it was his brother
who’d hit him.
‘Going
crazy’
While Hayden
says nothing like this has happened to him before, he claims he’s observed
increasing aggression from the animals he hunts.
“The
kangaroos are going crazy these days. As soon as they see a car they hop right
up to it and give it right back.”
Doctors
told Hayden they will have to wait until the swelling in his face goes down
before they can operate.
The condition of the kangaroo is unknown.