ROO ATTACKS WOMAN
A MILLMERRAN woman was attacked by a kangaroo on Saturday night, leaving her with a collapsed lung and internal injuries.
Linda Smith, 64, and her husband were feeding a troop of kangaroos when a large male kangaroo began to attack her husband.
Mrs Smith said she went outside to help her husband, by hitting the kangaroo with a broom but he knocked it out of her hand and turned on her.
“I got him off Jim and Jim got up and I managed to grab a piece of wood to defend myself with that,” she said.
“Then my son came out to try and help me and hit him over the head with a shovel.
“I have never been one to want to hurt animals.”
Queensland Ambulance Service were called to the property at 6.45pm, where they found Mrs Smith with a collapsed lung, broken ribs, lacerations and other internal injuries.
She was transported to Toowoomba Hospital in a critical but stable condition, where she underwent surgery yesterday and is expected to make a full recovery.
Her husband and son were taken to Millmerran Hospital to be treated for minor injuries.
Queensland Ambulance Service inspector Stephen Johns said paramedics were able to stabilise Mrs Smith on scene before transporting her.
“Paramedics were unsure what they would be presented with and upon arrival they were shocked to be confronted with such serious injuries to the patients involved,” he said.
“I’m led to believe it was a large male kangaroo and obviously it was able inflict some serious injuries.”
Mrs Smith said despite the attack she did not want the animal hunted down and killed. She has been a wildlife carer for 15 years and understood what happened “was an act of nature”.
“About 30 kangaroos and wallabies come in each night to be fed. We feed them a mix of grain and chaff as with the drought there’s nothing out there,” she said.
“When you’re a carer you learn the dangers of all the other kangaroos and you’re always aware they are wild animals.”
Mrs Smith said she first became a wildlife carer after discovering a joey that had lost its mother on her 60-acre property about 20 minutes out of Millmerran.
Since then she has cared for many more joeys including ones she has affectionately named Cleopatra, Floyd, Golly Gosh and Dick Tracy.