Lieutenant Steven Bodek has been a law enforcement officer for more than 20 years, but he’s never had a call like the one he got Saturday. Residents near the town of Arrington reported seeing an injured kangaroo near the intersection of Route 29 and Oak Ridge Road.
Bodek and another officer --converged on the scene and spotted the suspect, but catching her was no easy job.
“As soon as we exited the vehicle, it took off running and it cleared about 150 years in about three seconds," he recalls. "I couldn’t even get a picture of it.”
The animal had a wounded leg, and Bodek tracked a trail of blood to a nearby property where he informed the homeowner.
“I knocked on the door and told the resident 'The police are here. We’re chasing a kangaroo,'" Bodek says. "Of course she laughed at me. She put her dogs inside, and when I walked around back it was there.”
He phoned the local Wildlife Conservation Center, and the owner said he’d be right over with a tranquilizer gun. Then the sheriff’s office got a call from another area resident reporting another kangaroo.
It turned out the first animal was a mother who had been carrying a baby.
“Their natural instinct if they’re chased by predators is to hide the baby and then lead the predators off," Bodek explains. "That’s what she did.”
The joey was located and returned to the wildlife center, and its mother was sedated enough that Bodek was able to pet her.
“I was surprised how soft they were. They’re like a bunny rabbit.”
Today, mother and baby are back home and making a good recovery from their weekend adventure. The police, meanwhile, are still talking about it.
