A bushwalker who tried to save a joey stuck in a fence has described the harrowing moment its mother launched a vicious attack on her.
Campbelltown woman Melanie Stubbs, 58, was hiking with a group in the Megalong Valley near Katoomba last December when they stumbled upon the joey stuck in a wire fence.
One member of the group decided to film the women as they tried to release the joey who was hanging upside down with it’s back leg caught in the fence.
The rescue was soon up-ended when the protective kangaroo mother became defensive and started exhibiting signs of an attack.
The video shows the kangaroo jump up to the fence as the bushwalkers retreat slightly.
It then turns around, jumping further away into the clearing before turning back and charging at speed at the group.
“Watch out Mel,” a bushwalker yells.
The kangaroo crouched down against the fence growling and grunting in anger as Ms Stubbs slipped backwards in shock.
“She came under the fence and reared up with her claws spread,” she told 9News.
“The next thing I remember was I turned over onto my tummy and I was trying to crawl away and I’m yelling, ‘Help me’.
“And she was pounding on my back. It was awful.”
One of her friends tried to fight off the kangaroo with a hiking pole but the kangaroo had already sliced her leg with it’s claws.
“I went to get up and then I noticed my calf muscles hanging off my leg,” she said.
“It was horrendous. ”
The group managed to get her away from the kangaroo and flag down a car at a nearby road to get her to hospital.
The 58-year-old had to have emergency surgery to treat the wound that cut through to the bone on her right calf.
Her doctors told her the attack could have been fatal if the kangaroo had clawed at more vital organs.
“It could have killed me,” she said.
She was put on crutches and took three months off work to recover.