Dog saves elderly woman from kangaroo!

Sydney, July 20 : An elderly woman was attacked by a large kangaroo on her central western New South Wales (NSW) farm and was lucky to be alive - after a pet dog leapt to her aid.

The male kangaroo, estimated to be up to two meters tall and weighing 100 kilograms, attacked Rosemary Neal as she crossed a field to check her horses.

Rosemary Neal was rushed to Mudgee Hospital after her 65-year-old suffered facial lacerations and other injuries.

Her son Darren said his mother was lucky to be alive after being attacked by the animal.

"There would be a couple of hundred kangaroos within a hundred metres of the house, and last night she was just walking down the paddock to check on the horses before it was dark,'' Sydney Morning Herald quoted him, as saying.

"A lot of kangaroos have just bolted, but the males don't care, they just stay laying down, they're not scared.

"The kangaroo has just jumped up and launched straight at her. He hit her once and she just dropped and rolled. My dog heard her screaming and bolted down and chased him off.

"It it wasn't for the dog she'd probably be dead,'' he added. Darren said his mother was in a 'bad way', but had been discharged from hospital.

"My mum is 65 years old and about five-and-a-half foot,'' he said.

"Her face has been ripped apart, her hand has been mauled, and she's got scratches all over her back and concussion.

"Her whole body is sore where she has dropped to the ground,'' he added.

Darren said that people in Mudgee had been complaining about the kangaroo problem for a number of years, but nothing had been done about it.

He now feared someone else may be mauled by one of the animals - particularly one of the town's children.

ANI