Deputies in Virginia rescue kangaroo in harsh winter weather

NELSON COUNTY, Va. — Deputies in Virginia are used to assisting stranded motorists during winter storms. But rescuing a kangaroo and its baby? That is a new one.

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According to the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office, the female kangaroo and her joey were rescued by two deputies and a Virginia conservation police officer on Saturday.

“Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think I would be wrangling a kangaroo,” Conservation police Officer Andrew Sundra told WSET.

Lt. Steve Bodek and Deputy Robert Richardson responded to the intersection of Thomas Nelson Highway and Oak Ridge Road in Nelson County after receiving a report of a kangaroo obstructing traffic.

The 3-foot kangaroo lives on a wildlife refuge in Arrington and was inside a fenced area when a hunting dog entered the area and began chasing it, Sheriff Mark Embrey told The Washington Post.

Deputies said the female dropped her baby and ran, prompting the dogs to chase her while ignoring the joey, WSET reported. Officers later found the young kangaroo safe.

Weather was a factor in the rescue, the sheriff said.

“The temperatures were frigid,” Embrey told WSET. “You know what the elements are from the winter storm.”

Bodek had a more immediate problem. The kangaroo was injured but remained elusive.

“Then we immediately switched to, ‘How are we going to catch this thing?’” Bodek told the television station.

Richardson added that the kangaroo was fast and unpredictable.

“I don’t even know if a lasso would have worked on it,” he told WSET. “You get out of the car, and she’s already across the field.”

Deputies said the kangaroo was injured and left a visible blood trail. Bodek said officers guided the kangaroo into a corner on private property.

“It could have easily jumped over a 4-foot fence, but it did not,” Bodek said. “It just kind of looked at me.”

The kangaroo’s owner arrived at the scene with a tranquilizer gun and subdued the marsupial with a dart, Embrey told the Post. Deputies helped place the kangaroo in the owner’s truck.

She is expected to recover, the sheriff’s office said.

It was definitely a different rescue call for law enforcement in Nelson County, located about 35 miles southwest of Charlottesville.

“I don’t think anything ever really prepares you for that,” Sundra told WSET.

“Only in Nelson County,” Bodek told the television station.