Aussie publican receives death threats after filming controversial act with kangaroo

Yahoo

2 days ago

A tiny Aussie pub has sparked an online uproar after it filmed and shared two videos showing a controversial encounter with a kangaroo.
The first is captioned 'This guy wanted to punch on this morning' and shows a large male eastern grey kangaroo at the edge of a creek, appearing scared and shaking its head as a dog barks from behind the camera. In the second video, the animal is compared to Bruce Lee because it uses a paw to deflect a stick thrown in the direction of its head.
Since Thursday, the post has attracted close to 500 comments, with some respondents concerned about the presence of the dog, and others outraged by the throwing of the stick. 'The poor roo is terrified,' one person wrote. 'Not remotely funny,' another person added. 'Leave him alone,' someone else said.
The Kevington Hotel is located on the banks of the Goulburn River in Victoria's northeast. It's publican Daryl said he just posts "different sh**" that happens in the bush that city-folk would be unlikely to see, and that's why he chose to share the kangaroo video.
He told Yahoo News he was surprised by how quickly the situation escalated and that some of the responses have unsettled him. He claims to have received an angry phone call from an anonymous number, along with multiple threats to his life.
'There's been three or four death threats, there have been a couple of threats to burn the pub down with us in it, and there's been one to bash me… It's getting a bit ridiculous when someone threatens to kill your family. I mean, over throwing a stick at a kangaroo,' he said.
Publican claims kangaroo video taken out of context
While the videos themselves are unsettling to watch, Daryl argues his detractors have taken them out of context.
He said he ventured down to the creek after he heard his dog barking and then called it away from the kangaroo. He claims to have had the kangaroo's own welfare in mind when he tried to scare it off from an area close to a campground where families camp with their dogs.
He's formed an opinion that large males can become very aggressive when they're living close to human settlements. And he doesn't want a repeat of what occurred at a nearby property last year, when a kangaroo was shot because it was considered a risk to a woman and her dog who lived there.
'What I've done with this kangaroo is, yes, I threw a stick at it. I didn't hit the kangaroo. And the whole reason to do that was to scare it off, back into the bushland, which is behind us, so it can live for the rest of its life. And the job's been done. It hasn't come back,' he said.
'If they become a pest, they always get put down, and I don't want that to happen.'
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Daryl said he's got a soft spot for kangaroos and doesn't even serve their meat at his pub. He claims to have saved at least three joeys from the side of the road after their mothers were hit and killed on roads, and to have euthanised multiple injured kangaroos with broken legs.
'I absolutely love and adore our native wildlife… Anyone who wants to take what I've done out of context is just a complete and utter twat,' he said.
Concern viewers could copy publican's behaviour
The internet is awash with controversial videos of people encountering Australia's wildlife, and social media companies like Facebook have historically refused to remove them. Daryl said he hates seeing animal cruelty videos, and concedes he was a 'little light on strategy' when he shared his own videos of the kangaroo without context.
Alyssa Wormald from the Victorian Kangaroo Alliance, a non-profit that advocates for the animals, said 'the best thing' Daryl could now do is delete the controversial video.
She is concerned people watching it could assume throwing a stick at a kangaroo is an 'acceptable interaction' and decide to copy the behaviour. 'Despite his intentions, it is cruel,' she said.
Not only was Wormald 'appalled' by the stick throwing, she has concerns about the prolonged stress the kangaroo was under due to the presence of the barking dog.
Kangaroos are not known to be aggressive to dogs unless they are feeling cornered and defend themselves. High levels of stress can result in a condition called stress myopathy, which leads to muscle degeneration and a slow death.
In her opinion, the better option would have been to control the dog and then walk away 'slowly and calmly'. 'Kangaroos usually bound away from people when they are given plenty of space and an exit route,' she said.
'Even if he did scare the kangaroo into the bush, he will likely come back anyway if that is where the food is.'
Wormald and her family share their property with a large old male kangaroo, and she feels 'blessed' to have him there. 'They are such special animals and deserve our respect,' she said.
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