Bizarre Rescue Sees Divers Save Kangaroo That Found Itself Over a Mile from Dry Land.
A fishing crew on Boston Bay, off Port Lincoln in South Australia, pulled an exhausted kangaroo from the water about 3 kilometers from shore, and the animal later hopped away from the beach.
A fishing crew rescued a male kangaroo from the water of Boston Bay, off Port Lincoln in South Australia, according to ABC Eyre Peninsula. Crew member Jake Murray estimated the animal was about 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) offshore.
Skipper Ryan Smith first noticed it and said he thought there was a kangaroo in the water. Murray said the crew did not take the remark seriously at first. They turned the boat around to check and found that Smith was right.
The crew got the tired animal aboard through the boat's sea door, which lowers to roughly water level. Murray said they were able to get under the kangaroo's arms, lift it in and hold it there.
Murray is a diver and farmer who often deals with wild animals, but he said this was a first. He hugged the kangaroo to keep it calm and to control its legs. "Just hanging on to him, just controlling his legs, because they're quite mighty and powerful," he said. He described the animal as waterlogged and worn out, and said it seemed to doze at one point, "almost like he was having a little nap".
Another diver on the boat, Miguel Villarroel, comes from the Galapagos Islands and had never seen a kangaroo before. Murray said Villarroel asked whether this kind of thing happened often, and he told him he had never seen it in his life. Murray said he had seen kangaroos in shallows and on surf beaches in the area, but never in the middle of the bay.
Murray said he did not know how the kangaroo ended up so far out. He suggested the calm, flat water or the tide could have played a part, and joked that it might have been a young male on a dare. Once the boat reached shore, the kangaroo rested on the beach and then hopped away.
Note: The headline says the kangaroo was over a mile from land and credits divers. The page says Murray estimated about 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) and describes a fishing crew that included divers.
At a Glance
- The rescue took place on Boston Bay, off Port Lincoln, South Australia, in the week of the ABC report dated 2026-10-21.
- Jake Murray estimated the male kangaroo was about 3 kilometers offshore when the crew found it.
- Skipper Ryan Smith spotted the animal, and the crew lifted it aboard through the boat's sea door.
- After reaching shore, the kangaroo rested on the beach before hopping away.
Sources
This brief was written by Brightside Report from the reporting linked above. Spot an error? Request a correction.