Look, we all know there are plenty of things in Australia that can kill you. But we figured we didn’t have to worry about bicyclist-jumping kangaroos.
Until now.
Sharon Heinrich was riding a bike with her friend Helen Salter on a trail in South Australia’s Clare Valley when she spotted a kangaroo standing on a ledge, she told the Northern Argus.
“I saw him and thought ‘oh isn’t he cute’ -- then he was on top of me,” Heinrich said.
The kangaroo jumped on top of Heinrich, then propelled itself off of her and onto Salter. Both were knocked off their bikes by the kangaroo. Heinrich, at 5’4”, said the animal was taller than she is.
The fall gave Salter a concussion, while Heinrich wound up with three cracked ribs and scratch marks. Heinrich also ruptured her breast implants, which she jokingly says helped cushion her fall.
“They worked as air bags and have been ruptured by the ordeal,” she told the Associated Press.
She added that the kangaroo seemed “peaceful” and not like it was acting out of anger.
That’s a good thing, since an aggressive kangaroo can be a formidable enemy. Last year, another South Australia woman was nearly killed after a kangaroo repeatedly struck and scratched her while she was out with her dog. But kangaroo attacks are “extremely rare,” Deb Kelly of Australia’s Department for Environment and Heritage told the Adelaide Advertiser at the time, noting that the kangaroo was probably afraid of the woman’s dog, which had followed it into the water.
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