
The rescue mission did not go to plan on Wednesday. Screengrab from video.
Local water police launched a daring jetski rescue mission on Wednesday morning (16 October) to save a troubled swimmer in Lake Burley Griffin but their mission was totally undone when the swimmer hopped back into the lake mere seconds after getting back onshore.
Captured on a video posted to Reddit, police officers helped a small eastern-grey kangaroo back to shore near Queen Elizabeth Terrace but with two hops, the kangaroo was back in the lake having a dip.
Thankfully, on the second attempt, the dedicated officers managed to keep the roo out of the water and onto dry land.
ACT Wildlife president Marg Peachey said it wasn’t unheard of for kangaroos to be caught in the water. Earlier this year, a bizarre standoff between a large kangaroo and a dog in a Fadden pond was also caught on camera.
“It happens from time to time but I don’t know why this one was in the water,” she said. “Maybe he was scared by passing tourists and jumped in. They can swim but they get tired very quickly so it was good he was rescued.
“Especially in that part of the lake, its impossible for him to get out due to the wall so he would have been exhausted. The only reason why he would have jumped back in was due to him being scared.”
If any Canberrans sees any other roos going for a dip during the summer months, Ms Peachey’s advice is to immediately call Access Canberra on 13 22 81.
“Call Access Canberra to get the rangers there quick smart and also leave the scene so you don’t scare him,” she said.
Jetski police in Canberra attempt to arrest swimming suspect from canberra
Busiest day in ACT water police history
Hannah - thought Izzy might like to see this! X
Helen Maria Ord that’s made the girls giggle! emilia thinks he’s swimming to see us lol got a long way to swim to the UK 😂
From an animal welfare perspective, the cops probably added to this animals stress. Should have left it alone to do what comes naturally.
But then, any excuse for a play on the jet skis eh?
And if the animal had drowned in front of them you would have criticised them for doing nothing, eh?
Mate, they can swim better than the cops can. Leave wildlife alone and stop trying to be super heros all the time.
This clip was shown on news around Australia and is the sort of quirky thing that gets overseas coverage. We should tell tourists to come and see the water-roos that reside in the lake.
Kate Munro Marcus Daly not the onion lol
Worth the cost of water police then- keeps the coast free for all the smugglers
kangaroos can and do swim even long distances.
I was their
Tom Piet you missed this.
Sometime last week in Fraser....didn’t seem too stressed, and was last seen bounding towards Mt Rogers
Hadn’t finished his bath, rude buggers 🤣