Australian police resuscitating a drowning kangaroo with CPR at the beach is about as Australian as it gets.
The Agence France-Presse reports that Australian police were called to Melbourne’s Safety Beach on Sunday to rescue a kangaroo in the ocean. It had reached the safety of the sand and was swaddled in a blanket by the time the cops arrived, but it soon headed back into the water.
Typically kangaroos are fine swimmers, but this one struggled in the waves and eventually became unconscious. Two police officers entered the water and resuscitated the ‘roo using CPR.
No, the officers did not perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation — they just provided chest compressions, according to the AFP report — but even mentioning such an act has already conjured the upsetting image in my head.
The kangaroo is now doing fine, according to the AFP.
Australian emergency workers are no stranger to helping animals in distress. You may remember the viral video from 2009 of an Australian volunteer firefighter giving water to Sam, an injured koala.
Though that story was heartwarming and brought more than $2 million in donations to the Australian Koala Foundation, it took an enormous toll on the volunteer firefighter, who ended up losing his day job in the backlash.
Anyway, I’m glad the kangaroo is alive and not drowned. I further hope, for the officers’ sake, that no photos emerge from the incident, but I would love to see them if they exist, of course.
[AFP via phys.org]