Only in Australia…
Over the weekend, you may have come across a video of a man in Australia confronting, and subsequently punching, a kangaroo who had been involved in a struggle with a dog.
The video, which first appeared on the Facebook page of Steven Stubenrauch, has been viewed four million times and was the subject of plenty of discussion in Australia and beyond over the weekend.
This is the full video 😂😂😂. Guy saves his dog by taking on a kangaroo. The way he looks at him after the punch 😭 pic.twitter.com/lpCIdlHSzo
— Dr Faraz Ali (@thatdermguy) December 4, 2016
Plenty of that discussion centred on whether the video was legitimate or not, but it turns out that it was and there’s a bit of a story behind it too.
According to news.com.au, the man who threw the punch is zookeeper Greig Tonkins, who confronted the kangaroo after he saw that it had caught his hunting dog Max and put him in a headlock.
Tonkins and friends of his were on a hunting trip that had been organised for a young man named Kailem (pictured below), who sadly passed away last week.
One of Kailem’s last wishes, according to the organiser of the trip, Matthew Amor, was to go on a boar-hunting trip and the footage formed part of a DVD his friends put together for Kailem and his family.
“Basically Kailem wanted to catch a boar,” Amor told news.com.au
“And so a few of us got together to take him out, and another mate filmed more than an hour of video to put together as a DVD for Kailem and his family of the trip.”
Pic via gofundme.com/kailembarwick
The man who threw the punch, meanwhile, Greig Tonkins, could face action from his employers, Taronga Western Plains Zoo, as a result of his actions.
“Taronga Western Plains Zoo can confirm that Greig Tonkins is an employee at Taronga Western Plains Zoo,” a spokesperson for the zoo said in a statement.
“Good animal welfare and the protection of Australian wildlife are of the utmost importance to Taronga.
“We are working with Mr Tonkins to understand the exact circumstances of the event and will consider any appropriate action.”
Amor, however, was quick to defend his friend.
“My mate only stunned it,” he said.
“His hand was OK, he didn’t hit it very hard at all.
“It was funny because the guy who did it is the most placid bloke. We laughed at him for chucking such a sh*t punch.”
Max (the dog) and the kangaroo both emerged pretty unscathed from the incident.
A GoFundMe Page originally set up for Kailem, who is to be laid to rest this week, has raised just over AUS$14,000 for research for Ewing Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, at the time of writing.
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