A two-year-old boy playing with his toy wheelbarrow was bowled over by a kangaroo which then pinned him down and tried to claw him to death.
The screaming child’s terrified parents ran at the animal and managed to chase it away – but not before it left Zakkiah Galea with severe wounds to his face and body.
His mother Nicole Galea told how the aggressive kangaroo left her in fear that her son had received fatal injuries in the attack on the family’s ten-acre property at Port Macquarie, in northern New South Wales.
Mrs Galea, who is eight-months pregnant, said: ‘The kangaroo was on top of him. He was pinned to the ground while it clawed at his forearms.
‘I screamed at the kangaroo to get off him but it wouldn’t – it just kept on attacking.’
It was only when Zakkiah’s father, Andrew Galea, rushed to help his wife fight off the kangaroo that the animal finally ran off into nearby bushland.
‘It turned on Andrew first before hopping away,’ said Mrs Galea.
‘It was just awful to see Zakkiah. He had a bloody face and blood had soaked through his shirt.
‘There was a deep puncture in his chest and a gash on the top of his leg. He had two large gouges from his mouth to his ear.’
Zakkiah is now recovering at home from his wounds that required 13 stitches.
His mother said: ‘He scared. He says he doesn’t want to be attacked by the “tiger kangaroo” again.’
