Australian wrestles kangaroo from family home

[Mark]

Underwear-clad dad hailed as hero for grappling with 'lunatic ninja'

updated 2:32 a.m. HT, Mon., March. 9, 2009
CANBERRA, Australia - When a dark intruder smashed through his bedroom window and repeatedly bounced on his bed, Beat Ettlin at first was relieved to discover it was a kangaroo.

"My initial thought when I was half awake was, 'It's a lunatic ninja coming through the window,'" the 42-year-old told The Associated Press on Monday. "It seems about as likely as a kangaroo breaking in."

But his relief was short-lived. As Ettlin cowered beneath the sheets with his wife and 9-year-old daughter at 2 a.m. Sunday, the frantic kangaroo bounded into the bedroom of his 10-year-old son, Leighton Beman, who screamed, "There's a 'roo in my room!"

"I thought, 'This can be really dangerous for the whole family now,'" Ettlin said.

The ordeal played out over a few minutes in the family's house in Garran, an upmarket suburb in the leafy national capital of Canberra.

Ettlin, a chef originally from the Swiss city of Stans, said he jumped the 90-pound marsupial from behind and pinned it to the floor. He grabbed it in a headlock and wrestled the thrashing and bleeding intruder into a hallway, toward the front door.

He used a single, fumbling hand to open the front door and shoved the kangaroo into the night.

"I had just my Bonds undies on. I felt vulnerable," he said, referring to a popular Australian underwear brand.

Trail of blood
The kangaroo, which Ettlin said was around his height, 5 foot 9 inches, left claw gouges in the wooden frame of the master bed and a trail of blood through the house. The animal was cut when it came crashing through the bedroom window.

Ettlin, who had scratch marks on his leg and buttocks and was left wearing only his shredded underpants, described himself as "lucky."

The kangaroo vanished into a nearby forest whence it likely came. Wildlife authorities confirmed Monday they had received a phone call saying an injured kangaroo had entered the caller's home and left.

Greg Baxter, a Queensland University lecturer on Australian native animals, said kangaroos rarely invade homes but have done so in the past when panicked.

"It is very unusual, but when kangaroos become panicked, they lose all sense of caution and just fly for where they think they can get away," Baxter said.

Eastern gray kangaroos are common around Canberra's forested urban fringe. They are so numerous at one defense department site in the city that officials want to cull hundreds of the animals to stop them ruining the habitat.

Although it had been a harrowing experience, Ettlin's wife could see the funny side.

"I think he's a hero: a hero in Bonds undies," Verity Beman, 39, said of her husband.

[stitch626]

Interesting, though they could have done without this:

"I think he's a hero: a hero in Bonds undies,"

[Sionnach Glic]

That guy was pretty damn lucky. Kangaroos can do some serious damage to humans, and are quite capable of killing them.

[Mark]

Really? I never counted them as that dangerous. Of course, I've only seen them on TV.

[Tsukiyumi]

Really? I never counted them as that dangerous. Of course, I've only seen them on TV.

Those back legs are damn powerful, with sharp claws to boot. Also, they like punching things.

It's a lunatic ninja coming through the window

"Damn ninjas again, dear!"

[Sionnach Glic]

Really? I never counted them as that dangerous. Of course, I've only seen them on TV.

They can be very dangerous. They can kick with incredible force, and they have one hell of a claw on the end of their feet:

Larger males have been known to kill people just by kicking them with that thing.
And their fore-claws aren't too shabby either:


And an example of what they can do if pissed off, complete with Dramatic American Narator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B66gFbN ... re=related

[Mikey]

Now, here's my question: as I understand it, kangaroos are native to Australia, and lunatic ninjas are not. Why was this guy's first assumption that a lunatic ninja had decided to break in to his home in order to play trampoline on his bed?

[Mark]

Perhaps he is a retired aussie spy......which is why he defeated the "ninja" in his Bonds (James?) undies? He's likely used to lunatic ninjas

[Sionnach Glic]

You know, Mikey, I was just wondering that. Exactly who, upon having some large thing smash through your window and start jumping on top of you, would immediately conclude that they were under attack by ninjas?

Seriously, what the fuck?

[Nickswitz]

Or maybe he has crack before he goes to bed every night, I've heard it makes you think weird things.

[Tsukiyumi]

Or maybe he has crack before he goes to bed every night, I've heard it makes you think weird things.

You make it sound like he'd be having a nightcap.

If he were smoking that junk, he wouldn't be going to sleep, he'd be up trying to count the individual threads in his carpet.

[Mikey]

I know I can't sleep- um... I mean, I hear you can't sleep...

But, yeah - That would be like me, in the NE United States, hearing a crash near my garbage can and saying, "The aliens are back!




... or, just maybe, there was a raccoon."

[Sonic Glitch]

Well to be honest, most Aussie's I've seen/met are a fairly odd bunch. He could've been making a joke for the press. The same for the mention of the James Bond undies. They seem to be some of the friendliest, funniest people I've ever met. It wouldn't surprise me if the 2 in the story decided to have some fun at the expense of the press (or just for the heckuvit).

[Nickswitz]

I know a Aussie, he's pretty funny, and never gets insulted by anything at all, but he's quite hilarious, he can make a joke out of pretty much anything, and somehow it's funny, even if it has no humorous element to it at all, lol

[Mark]

Yeah...........lunatic ninjas almost HAS to be a joke.

I hope. :::gulp:::