A Sumner County, Tennessee man strangled a kangaroo to death after the animal kicked his wife while the couple were trying to lure the kangaroo back to its enclosure in a neighbor’s yard, WKRN Nashville reports.
The kangaroo, named Carter, had escaped its enclosure at Hope and Chris Lea’s home in White House, according to the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office, but it was still on their property when two of their neighbors, a husband and wife, tried to lure Carter back into the enclosure with some food. The animal’s enclosure is a fenced area on the Lea’s property, which is entirely fenced in. The couple had called Chris Lea to tell him the animal was loose, and they volunteered to wrangle it, although Chris told them he would be home shortly to deal with the situation.
As the couple tried to find the feed, the kangaroo kicked the wife. The husband then strangled the animal to death because the only thing that can stop a marsupial with a pouch is a Tennessean with opposable thumbs. After being killed, Carter was surrounded by baby kangaroos the Leas care for.
“I was screaming because all of the babies were standing around his dead body and I was just so upset,” said Hope. “He didn’t have nowhere to go. He was choked to death in his own space.”
Police have not said if they will charge the neighbor, but the Leas said they would seek restitution.