Woman faked her own death to stop rogue kangaroo attack

A 54-year-old woman named Debbie Urquhart has shared that she needed to play dead to stop a rogue kangaroo from viciously attacking her. The animal attack took place while she was jogging along a running track in Melbourne's northeast at about 6AM on Jan.14.

The incident happened just 500m from her Templestowe home in Melbourne's northeast. She has recalled that she was kicked by a kangaroo repeatedly. The woman said she was left with no other option but to fake her death.

Urquhart managed to jog her way home after the attack. She was rushed to the hospital, where she received 35 stitches in her arm, shoulder and buttocks.

Urquhart shared that the animal has ripped her to pieces. “I was trying to crawl away. He left me for a bit and I thought he was going to come back and kill me,” she told Manningham Leader.

She further shared that the kangaroo repeatedly kicked her on the right side of her body, and “threw me around like a rag doll.” The rogue kangaroo left when she played dead and that was when she has managed to run about 500m back to her Monckton Rd home.

Her husband, Robert, brought her to the emergency department at Austin Hospital in Melbourne's north. Aside from the physical injuries in her arm, shoulder and buttocks, a personal trainer said she has been left with trauma.

“Every time I close my eyes it’s pretty vivid, it's horrible,” Urquhart confessed. She said she could have been killed if the animal got to her stomach.

Urquhart believes that it was her personal fitness that saved her from being killed. She said the incident should serve as a warning for her and nearby residents to be wary of kangaroo attacks. According to Urquhart, she is not running near the walking track ever again.