SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – A kangaroo killed a man who was keeping it as a pet in Western Australia this weekend, according to the Australian Broadcasting company. Per the BBC, it was the first fatal kangaroo attack in Australia for more than 80 years.
The ABC identified the man as Peter Eades, 77, an alpaca breeder. He was attacked by the kangaroo Sunday afternoon at his estate in Richmond, Australia.
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According to the Michigan State University College of Law, “ordinarily, it is illegal to kill, buy, sell or possess a kangaroo in Australia,” though Victoria, Australia, may allow them for people who complete a permit application.
Though he did not live in Victoria, Eades kept the three-year-old kangaroo as a pet, the ABC reported. Police said Tuesday they had no information to make public regarding whether the victim had a permit, according to the Associated Press.
According to A-Z Animals, 13 U.S. states allow people to keep kangaroos as pets: Illinois, Idaho, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Last year, Lebanon Daily News reported that a stray kangaroo was wandering in Pennsylvania.
People in Texas can even pay to hunt kangaroos owned there, said a report published last year in The Guardian. In contrast, California has prohibited products made from kangaroo skin since the 1970s, according to The New York Times.
In Western Australia, a family member discovered Eades with serious injuries from his encounter with the kangaroo. Although authorities were called, they had trouble getting to the rural location, located around 250 miles southeast of Perth, Australia.
“Police said they were forced to kill the kangaroo to make it safe for paramedics,” to treat him, said the ABC. Efforts to saves Eades were unsuccessful and he died at the scene.
While kangaroos are very connected to Australian culture and often serve as a mascot in the country, the Queensland Department of Environment and Science noted that “whilst many people see large male kangaroos as placid grazing animals,” the can actually “be aggressive towards people.”
The department explained that “unlike their human counterparts, adult [male kangaroos] fight their rivals to gain higher status within a local group or ‘mob’ and the dominant male will father the next generation of joeys.”
“The problem with kangaroos and people is we’re both upright animals, we stand on our two feet, and an upright stance like that is a challenge to the male kangaroo,” said kangaroo behavior expert Graeme Coulson. “They don't distinguish between people and other kangaroos… and that gets particularly risky when the male grows, and becomes bigger and stronger then you can have problems like this.”
Although the risk of a kangaroo attack is small, it is not unheard of.
In 1936, 38-year-old William Cruickshank died in New South Wales hospital months after he’d been attacked by a kangaroo while trying to rescue dogs, sustaining injuries that included a broken jaw. His death is the last kangaroo attack fatality reported in Australia.
Members of the Richmond community said Eades was an animal lover and that he raised the kangaroo since it was a joey. He was also a well-known alpaca breeder.
“His dedication included naming each animal, and building a cemetery to bury them when they died,” said the ABC. He told the outlet in 2017 he wished to be buried next to Claudia, his favorite alpaca.
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