Woman Hospitalised After Kangaroo Attack On Australian Golf Course

A 69-year-old woman is recovering in hospital after being attacked unprovoked by a large kangaroo on a golf course on Australia’s Gold Coast. 

According to the Queensland ambulance team, the incident took place on Friday morning at 9am when the woman was playing golf at the Arundel Hills Country Club. It’s believed that the animal, which is native to Australia, first struck the woman from the side without warning, before carrying on the attack. 

"She’s fallen to the ground at that first kick, and then when she’s been on the ground, she’s been stomped [on] a number of times by the kangaroo," Joel McEwan, ambulance service operations supervisor, said.

"She was walking down the fairway, and the kangaroo has come from the side, and just attacked without warning."

The woman suffered significant cuts to her face, head, arms and legs before the kangaroo eventually relented. Luckily, the woman remained conscious and was able to scramble into a golf cart before the team of paramedics arrived on the scene. 

She was taken to Pindara private hospital to be treated for her injuries, the most serious of which is reportedly a cut to her jaw which may require stitches according to McEwan. 

Kangaroo attacks on humans are nothing new on Australia’s Gold Coast according to the Queensland emergency team, but this was the first one for over a year and understandably caused the victim some distress.

"The patient was quite upset at the scene. Obviously it’s a shock being attacked by quite a large kangaroo," McEwan added.

"They’re not common, especially on the golf courses where they get quite a lot of kangaroos."