Aussie woman suffers internal injuries from kangaroo attack

A woman in Australia's Queensland state suffered internal injuries including a collapsed lung and broken ribs after being attacked by a wild kangaroo that her husband was feeding on Saturday night, according to local media.

Wildlife carer Linda Smith, 64, and her husband Jim were feeding the marsupials at their home southwest of state capital Brisbane when one kangaroo, "a huge grey ... turned on him," the ABC news channel reported on Sunday.

"Jim was on the ground and the kangaroo just kept at him," Xinhua news agency quoted Smith as saying.

Smith said she took a broom and a piece of bread to try and help her husband but the kangaroo "knocked the broom out of my hand then attacked me".

The animal went back into the bush and was gone when emergency services arrived, with one paramedic saying Smith was "lucky to be alive". She was in stable condition and set to undergo surgery on Sunday afternoon, the channel reported.

Smith said she understood the attack was "an act of nature" and did not want the kangaroo to be hunted and killed.

Kangaroos, like their marsupial cousins koalas, are a popular Australian sight and can be found in the wild throughout the country.

Earlier this year, kangaroo attacks on visitors at a hospital site in New South Wales state alone fuelled calls for more warnings about feeding or approaching the animals.

--IANS

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