Kangaroo `saves' farmer who rescued it

Len Richards poses with a kangaroo named Lulu who has been declared a hero after saving Richards' life by alerting his family that he lay unconscious nearby on his farm near Morwell in eastern Victoria yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

A half-blind kangaroo was declared a hero yesterday after saving a farmer's life by alerting his family that he was lying unconscious nearby.

A leading animal welfare body said the 10-year-old western grey, known as "Lulu," should be nominated for a national bravery award. But the family of farmer Len Richards, 52, were simply glad she had alerted them to his plight.

"She was making this noise which sounded like a dog barking and she was obviously trying to get our attention because she never acts like that," said Richards' 17-year-old daughter Celeste.

"It went on for about 15 minutes, so we went outside to investigate and we saw Lulu standing upright with her chest puffed out over Dad's body."

Richards had been checking a tree in a paddock about 300m from the house during stormy weather, when he was struck by a falling branch and knocked unconscious. The incident occurred on his farm near Morwell, in eastern Victoria.

"If it wasn't for her, my dad could have died. We might not have found him for ages," Celeste said.

"Lulu and Dad are very close and she follows him around, but we all just love her so much. Lulu is my hero," she said.

It was a fair payback by the kangaroo was hand-reared by the Richards family, who rescued her from her mother's pouch and fed her on bottles after her mother was killed by a car about four years ago. She has only one eye and the family says she thinks she is a dog.

Richards was taken to hospital in Melbourne with severe head injuries but was later released.

The incident has been compared to the Australian children's TV show Skippy, about a kangaroo that solves crimes.

The Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Lulu should be nominated for one of its national bravery awards.