What would you do if your canine best friend were in danger? How far would you go to save it in its time of need? Would you be willing to place yourself in peril in the process? How about coming to blows? What if, in fact, your dog’s assailant wasn’t even human?
All those questions were answered in decisive fashion by one Australian man, who came through for a dog in need under, shall we say, decidedly strange circumstances. It seemingly aired on an Australian nature TV program, although the clip that’s gone viral on YouTube is a brief, narration-free glimpse of the encounter. What it shows, however, is strange in the extreme.
To start with, there’s a dog apparently being strangled around the neck by a kangaroo. Then, a man calls out to the dog—whose name is Max, according to the Daily Mail —and jogs into frame, surely concerned and/or horrified at his little pal’s plight.
What happens next, however, is completely unexpected—and not to be attempted. Apparently deciding that he had to intervene to save Max, the man rushed the kangaroo, distracted it so it would release the dog, cocked back his fist, and decked the hopping marsupial right across the face.
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
The kangaroo’s reaction can only be described as stunned, and that makes sense—although it’s impossible to discern how hard he was smacked, it probably came as quite a shock. When kangaroos tangle with fellow kangaroos, punches to the face are not normally a consideration. To the contrary, kangaroos use their massively powerful legs to kick when they become aggressive.
After lingering and staring at the man for a few seconds, seemingly dazed by the jab, the kangaroo fled the scene, having just suffered one of the greatest sucker-punches of all time. For what it’s worth, it’s absolutely inadvisable to ever fight a kangaroo, both because they can kill people and because hey, what have they ever done to you? But in the moment, under some dire circumstances, this guy put up his dukes.
