Rogue kangaroo pepper-sprayed by Aussie police

What do you get when you mix a kangaroo, an elderly woman, and a pair of police officers in a sleepy Outback town? One very interesting story!

Last Sunday, a rogue kangaroo attacked Phyllis Johnson, 94, while she hung laundry in her backyard. Phyllis, who suffered mostly cuts and bruises, told the Courier-Mail from hospital in Charleville, Queensland that she tried to fight the marauding marsupial off with a broom:

I thought it was going to kill me. It was taller than me and it just plowed through the clothes on the washing line straight for me.

After being knocked down she crawled back to her house and her son called the police. Charleville police chief Senior-Sargent Stephen Perkins said his officers were forced to pepper-spray the kangaroo to avoid being injured as well.

The animal jumped away, then saw another officer at the back of the police car and went for that officer, and he also had to deploy his capsicum spray [...]. After that, it hopped away from the scene, but police could still monitor its location – it didn't go too far.

Senior-Sgt. Perkins said he had never before heard of police using pepper-spray against a kangaroo.

It did subdue the animal and drew its attention away for the officers, so it worked.

Nearby wildlife rangers were able to trap the creature, which was described as a male red kangaroo, the world's largest marsupial. Named after their ginger-coloured fur, red kangaroos stand up to two meters tall (six feet), and weigh up to 135 kilograms (300 pounds), although most are smaller and lighter.

Kangaroos rarely attack humans, and government official Mike Devery told the press that the animal will be examined by a veterinarian before a decision is made on its future. Initial observations found some muscle deterioration in one of its hind legs.