‘They have the potential to disembowel you’: Chris ‘Brolga’ Barnes reveals he needed six stitches on his groin after a kangaroo went hopping mad 

By JENNA GOOD FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

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He’s turned his back on the modern world and is now dedicating his life to saving kangaroos.

However Chris ‘Brolga’ Barnes has revealed that while he’s cautious around 'roos, sometimes things can go wrong.

The star of National Geographic Wild’s Kangaroo Dundee told The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday he incurred a terrible injury from a 200cm-tall kangaroo called Roger, who is the 'boss' at The Kangaroo Sanctuary he started nine years ago.

Brave: Chris ‘Brolga’ Barnes says he’s cautious around 'roos but sometimes things can go wrong and that he required stitches to his groin when kangaroo boss, Roger, went for him recently

Brave: Chris ‘Brolga’ Barnes says he’s cautious around 'roos but sometimes things can go wrong and that he required stitches to his groin when kangaroo boss, Roger, went for him recently

‘You never stand and trade blows,'says 42-year-old Chris, 'not that I would, but you don’t want to get within kicking range of Roger.

‘Just his hands can scratch you up badly. Recently he gave me six stitches in the groin. 

'You’ve got to understand that big male kangaroos have the potential to disembowel you. I was very lucky recently getting away with just a few stitches.’

Saving joeys: The star of Nat Geo Wild’s Kangaroo Dundee incurred a terrible injury from the 200cm-tall kangaroo at The Kangaroo Sanctuary he started nine years ago

Saving joeys: The star of Nat Geo Wild’s Kangaroo Dundee incurred a terrible injury from the 200cm-tall kangaroo at The Kangaroo Sanctuary he started nine years ago

The 2014 Australian Of The Year finalist claims to have saved more than 200 joeys since opening the rescue centre for kangaroos, just outside of Alice Springs.

The little 'roo that inspired him to educate people and rescue other joeys was Palau, who had been left for dead on the side of the road.

'I was a tour guide at the time and I saw the 'roo on the road and I got off the bus to check it,' he says. 

Calling in life: Chris turned his back on the modern world and dedicating his life to saving kangaroos

Calling in life: Chris turned his back on the modern world and dedicating his life to saving kangaroos

'It was bloated and rotting, it'd been dead for a few days but there was still a joey barely alive in there,' he told Daily Mail Australia in August.

'I called her Palau after the TV show Survivor, it was one of the tribes on there, I nursed her back to health and released her a year later.'

It was from that first rescue that Brolga began devoting his life to saving baby kangaroos.

'That motivated me to set up an education centre, because so many people drive past carcasses not knowing that there could be a little joey inside that's still alive.'

 

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