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People that don’t live in Australia have no idea how aggressive a large muscular male kangaroo can be! If it was my dog I would have tried to save him no matter what. We have a large male at our bush property and I will not go near him . There are “millions” of kangaroos in Oz – ask the Farmers!
I’ve long known they are big and potentially very dangerous. But I was stunned to see this guy just go up to one and punch it in the face. He’d be toast if that roo had grabbed him and then kicked him with those back claws. But like him and you, I would have rushed in to save my dog, no matter what. Damn lucky dog, too, that he got away with his entrails intact. At least it appears all parties were unscathed.
I think this is a spoof. The video is not very smooth and I think it is briefly speeded up during the fight. If you watch carefully you’ll see that the punches are with open hand and not fist. Another clue: the dog doesn’t struggle when the Roo’s skinny arm is around its neck.
Looks real to me. The dog does struggle to get away after the man arrives, and at that time the kangaroo definitely tries to claw the dog with his back feet. Luckily he missed. The fist looks closed to me, especially in the slow mo. Not a real hard punch, but it did snap the kangaroo’s head around a bit. In any case, sufficient to draw his attention and ensure the dog was loose.
At first I wondered about that, too. But I think it’s real simply because you just cannot train a Roo to hold a dog like that, release the dog, then stand up to be punched. I’m amazed the Roo didn’t come at him full speed. From what I understand, they can be very vicious animals when needed and are very very hard to train.
Also, I ran the video through some of my Adobe video software and he did hit with a closed fist. Due to the frame rate and swift movement when punching, the hand is blurred due to movement which may be look like an open hand, but it is not.
What I think that makes people wonder about the validity is the guy narrating. Here in the states, someone who narrates like that, with that voice and play-by-play announcement, is often not the most reliable source. It automatically tags the video as “cheesy” and fake. I watched it several times before I turned on the audio and that narrator just ruined the video in my opinion. Much better with the sound off.
I just noticed something else. When he is walking away from the Roo at the end of the video, you can see he has a rather formidable hunting knife attached to his belt. At this point he reaches for his knife preparing to use it should the Roo decide to attack. He didn’t want to maim or kill the Roo if at all possible so gave the punch a try.
Side note: I think the guy looks like Ben Affleck. Of course it’s not, but sure looks like him.
I noticed the knife at some point, but I think maybe it was just as he got out of the truck. I don’t know how much it would have helped if he’d been attacked. Affleck? I’ll have to watch again …
I don’t know anything about training roos, but I’ve heard plenty about their aggressiveness and the danger of their kicks. I didn’t give a second thought to the narration, but I don’t watch a lot of videos.
Although I don’t think we know enough to be sure, I think Jim may be right. After stopping the action with the image shown full screen (32″ monitor), the guys hand appears to be open. We don’t know how long the struggle between the Roo and the Dog had been going on, so both of them may have been too tired to struggle the way we might think they would. Regardless, it’s interesting.
I’ve only a 15″ laptop, so don’t have the benefit of your view. I agree the hand is open after he strikes. Can’t tell about before. In any case, he struck the kangaroo hard enough to, shall we say, get his attention. Personally I suspect the dog might have been smart enough to realize that the less he struggled, the less the kangaroo would press his attack. Had the struggle been going on very long, we’d have seen more blood.
Admittedly, so many people these days are so good with PhotoShop and similar applications that it’s a gamble to assume any video or photo is “real.”
Looks real, and not on to Reddit to see what the theories are 🙂
I think it’s real, but I’ve been fooled before.
You never know with the advancement in CGI nowadays !
This video found its way to Snopes in short order. They confirm its authenticity. The only issue seemed to be whether the man who struck the kangaroo — Greig Tonkins, a zookeeper at Australia’s Taronga Western Plains Zoo — should lose his job over the incident. The zoo issued a statement yesterday saying Tonkins’ job is not in jeopardy.
I’ll accept that’s it’s real, and quite amazing!
I haven’t seen much footage of kangaroos and never one standing eye-to-eye with a man. It’s so bizarre looking. Like watching a meeting with some weird alien.
I’m not a betting man, but I’ll have a couple of bob on this being a hoax.
The roo would not have grabbed the dog; he’d have bounced away very quickly from the dog; had it have been cornered, it would have lashed out, with its hind powerful legs and fought it off before making it’s getaway.
Someone’s having a lend, and laugh, at many many people, nearly wrote suckers. XD 😈 :bear:
I’ve always thought roos fight/attack by grabbing and holding with the front legs, then raking with the back legs (as this one tried to do). If the dog got too close or cornered the roo, isn’t that likely what happened? Maybe I’m a sucker, but I’ve always trusted Snopes to find the truth on such things.
Great video. I enjoyed it. The Kangaroo didn’t have a clue what to do, it was under a befuddlement spell. Guy kicked it’s ass and saved his dogs at the same time. 1000 experience points if it was up to me!
Exactly! Obviously a befuddlement spell (works every time if you can get close enough). Well played. Worth at least 1000 xp. I imagine he leveled up with that.