Residents in Maaroom, Australia, have been carrying sticks to defend themselves after at least two people, including an elderly woman, were injured by the kangaroo mob.
Auscape / Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesGray eastern kangaroos in Queensland . 2010 .
In recent calendar month , gobs of easterly gray kangaroos have invade the small coastal Australian town of Maaroom . dire of chance the outstandingly aggressive animate being , resident have take to arming themselves and avoiding going alfresco .
“ There are too many to count , really , ” Caravan Park manager Karen Sutcliffe toldABC News Australia . “ People are walking around with a great stick now . I ’ve been wanting to go sportfishing of an afternoon but I wo n’t do that , just in showcase a kangaroo gets me . They ’re just so agile you do n’t know where they are . ”
Auscape/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesGray eastern kangaroos in Queensland. 2010.
The flyspeck townspeople , 150 miles north of Brisbane , has a population of just 220 . But in recent month , resident have counted dozens and XII of kangaroos lounging on their lawn and hopping through town . Maaroom locals have reported seeing as many as 15 kangaroo congregating on one lawn .
“ We ’ve counted more than 60 to 80 kangaroo on any given day within the town itself and the local timber that surround that would n’t support that many kangaroos , ” Frank Mills , the Department of Environment and Science manager for southerly wildlife operations , told ABC News Australia .
To make matters worse , the kangaroo overrun Maaroom can get strong-growing . accord to theDaily Mail , a 67 - year - old woman was pink over and kicked by a kangaroo , pull up stakes her with a broken femur and morsel target . Another occupant was also attacked and left with a spinal injury .
Joshua Prieto/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesA gray eastern kangaroo eating grass.
So why are there short so many kangaroo living in Maaroom ? And why are they so strong-growing toward human race ?
Joshua Prieto / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty ImagesA gray eastern kangaroo eating Mary Jane .
According to expert , the sudden prevalence of kangaroos — and their aggressiveness — is strange . Newsweekreports that only one person is known to have died from a kangaroo attack ( in 1936 ) and that kangaroos that attack world are ordinarily manly . However , the kangaroos in Maaroom are female .
Reinhard Dirscherlullstein bild via Getty ImagesAn eastern gray kangaroo peers at a camera in 2015. Though the animals are cute, experts warn against feeding them.
“ While there in reality are quite a few attacks with kangaroos in Queensland , mostly they ’re dealing with manlike kangaroos and it ’s usually a territorial or a mating exhibit , ” Mills explained to ABC News Australia . “ All of these issues [ in Maaroom ] have been with female kangaroos with a joey at foot . ”
A Maaroom occupant refer Mark Sidaway tell ABC News Australia that the kangaroos and their joeys have constellate to the town for one reason — to nibble on the townspeople ’s prosper lawn .
“ The last twosome of years we ’ve had La Niña where we get a lot more rain and weather condition are contributive to pasturage grow and we all carry off our lawns very well , ” Sidaway explain . “ Some hoi polloi are very good lawn mower and they keep it short , which means fewer kangaroo in your one thousand , and if you do n’t mow as on a regular basis , you ’re going to get large herd coming into your thousand . ”
Sidaway summate : “ They ’ve multiply because we have provide a Sizzler smorgasbord for them . ”
Reinhard Dirscherlullstein bild via Getty ImagesAn eastern gray kangaroo peer at a camera in 2015 . Though the animal are precious , experts monish against feed them .
allot to Mills , the Department of Environment and Science has incur report of residents both feed the kangaroos and attacking them — behaviors which can only make matters worse for the townsfolk .
Feeding the kangaroo “ can have a negative effect and actually encourage them to get closer to humans , ” Mills told ABC News Australia .
He added : “ The other matter that we ’ve had reported is that there are other the great unwashed in the town who are potentially using things like colloidal gel chargeman to admonish kangaroo . That can have a negative upshot on how those animate being feel about humans and it may make them more strong-growing . ”
For now , there are no plan to pluck the kangaroo population in Maaroom . Residents like Sidaway have surmised that the only way to dole out with the problem is to respect the wild animals and stay away from them .
“ Hopefully people get the message and stop ill-treat them , ” he told ABC News Australia , “ and maybe the other person walk down the street does n’t get belt out . ”
After take about the kangaroo in the town of Maaroom , Australia , see how aggressivepeacocks endure in Miami , Floridahad to be relocate after terrorizing the township . Or , distinguish the narration of thequokka , the Australian marsupial know as the world ’s happiest animal .
