Kangaroo hits farmer with a head grab after knocking him off his motorcycle

Brian O'Donnell's injuries after being attacked by a kangaroo in the Australian state of Victoria

An elderly Australian farmer was left bloodied and bruised after when he was attacked by a 7-foot-tall kangaroo, which grabbed him by the head.

Brian O'Donnell was riding his motorcycle on his farm near the small town of St. Arnaud in Victoria, intending to check on a pregnant cow. when the male kangaroo began to chase him.

Acutely aware of the damage an adult kangaroo could cause, he slowly began to walk away from the animal. . But he jumped towards him, knocked him off his Honda motorcycle and attacked him. «The next thing I know, he was on top of me,» he said.

The kangaroo's sharp claws pierced the wound on his left leg and tore his clothes as they struggled with each other.

“He held his top paws right behind my back. We were almost head-butting each other,” O'Donnell, 74, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, adding that the animal grabbed his head. “I just kept hitting him until he let me go and jumped away.”

The kangaroo approached him a second time, but did not attack. «One more leap and he would have been on top of me again,» he said.

Eastern gray kangaroos can cover up to 6m or 20ft in a single leap and weigh up to 60kg or 130lb.

O'Donnell estimates that the large male that attacked him was about 2.1 meters or 7 feet tall.

As soon as he returned home, his wife rushed him to the clinic, where his wounds were treated with antibiotics and stitches.

Protecting females

Mr O'Donnell believes the animal, which may have been an eastern gray kangaroo , who was attacked because he was trying to protect a group of nearby female kangaroos.

Last September, a 77-year-old man in Western Australia died after being attacked by a kangaroo he was keeping as a pet.

Last September, a 77-year-old man in Western Australia died after being attacked by a kangaroo he was keeping as a pet.

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When emergency crews arrived at his home in Redmond, 250 miles (402 kilometers) south of Perth, the animal prevented paramedics from treating Peter Eads.

Police had to shoot the kangaroo to help the man Medical assistance could have been provided, but he died on the spot.

Deadly attacks by kangaroos on humans are very rare. A previously documented case leading up to last year's attack occurred in 1936, when a 38-year-old man died from injuries received several months earlier while trying to protect his pet dogs from a large kangaroo in New South Wales.