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A Modest Hero
This is a True Story, but the names have been changed to avoid embarrassment to the real people involved
At two in the morning, the Smith family
was woken up suddenly as a seven foot high figure crashed through the
glass of the Canberra house. (Canberra is the capital of Australia.)
This was two am and they had been suddenly woken up. When you are just
woken up it can take a few seconds to return to full awareness. Why was an insane giant ninja doing impossible leaps round the house? The intruder got into his 10 year old son John's bedroom. The boy called out something like:
"Dad, there's a Kangaroo in my bedroom!"
By
this time, Mr. Smith had worked out what the intruder was and went to
help the boy. The Kangaroo was trying to get out, and was probably even
more frightened and confused than the humans had been. The Kangaroo was
attempting to get out through the corner of the bedroom. Mr. Smith
realized the danger his son was in. A wild Kangaroo is unlikely to
deliberately attack a human, but this one was totally confused. At any
moment the animal could jump onto John.
Mr. Smith grabbed
the Kangaroo from behind and was able to wrestle it to the ground, drag
it along the hallway and through the front door without injuring it
further (The Kangaroo had cut itself coming through the glass). Mr. Smith had scratches, but was not badly hurt.
Mr. Smith and John came onto national television to tell their story. Mr. Smith
told it with modesty and humour. He is a chef by profession and was
asked if he ever served Kangaroo. He joked that it would be on the menu
for the next night.
The normal way of catching a Kangaroo
without injuring it is for there to be two men. One man approaches from
the front, and the other man grabs the Kangaroo's tail. Kangaroos have
a very powerful double kick, but they can only kick forwards, and need
their tail to support themselves while kicking. Once the tail is held,
the men can overpower the animal. This method requires 2 men. Probably
what Mr. Smith did was the best way in the circumstances.
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A Modest Hero
