The man behind a viral kangaroo video has revealed what happened when a “jacked” roo attempted to drown his dog on a morning walk in Victoria, saying he thought “no-one” would believe it.
Mildura man Mick Moloney’s video of a run-in with a kangaroo was viewed more than 2.5 millions times on TikTok before it was taken down.
In the video, the mixed martial arts and Brazilian jiu-jitsu teacher quickly rushed to save his visually distressed pet who was being held by the kangaroo in the water.
“I’m going to punch you f*****g head in. Let my dog go,” he yelled in the video.
Speaking to ABC Radio Melbourne Afternoons, Mr Moloney said he was walking near a river over the weekend when he began stretching by a log and noticed his dog, Hatchi, had disappeared.
“After about 15 seconds, Hatchi came up [from the water] and he was in a headlock with this kangaroo,” he told the station.
“Water was just gushing out of his mouth and he yelped quite badly.”
After an attempt to make a loud noise to scare off the kangaroo failed, Mr Moloney said he knew he had to “get in there”.
“The muscles on this thing, I was like ‘this thing’s just got out of jail’ or something … it was jacked,” he said.
“I thought, I’ve got to video this, because no-one is going to believe this.”
Mr Moloney said he “basically, slapped him across the head, and he jumped me.”
“The kangaroo basically looked like it was about to kick the legs out at me and I splashed some water in its face and tried to take off and it had another go at me as I was leaving.
During the tussle, Mr Moloney briefly lost his phone in the water.
“I got my dog back, that’s the main thing.”
The video, which was originally uploaded by Mildura Martial Arts school in Victoria, left international viewers baffled by the run-in with what is widely seen as an icon of Australian culture and fauna.
“So do kangaroo eat dogs or why is he trying to choke it,” one person commented online.
“I thought the kangaroo drowned bro in front of his dog,” said another.
Mr Moloney said Hatchi is going “good” after the incident and will continue to use the same walking track along the riverbank.
“I can’t not go that way, cause I don’t want the roos thinking that we’re scared.”