A sad tale

(...or should that be tail?)

I was rather surprised to see this roo on my lawn this morning when I got up. I know we get them in the garden sometimes (they leave evidence!) but they are usually gone by morning. I soon saw why he didn't bounce off – he has a sore leg and could only walk very slowly on it. He gradually moved off to the bottom corner of the garden, but couldn't get over the fence so stayed there. 

I called the wildlife rescue people, who came quite quickly and confirmed that the leg (or rather his foot) is broken and the only thing to do for a kangaroo with a broken leg is to put it out of its pain quickly. So they called the registered shooter (her husband, also a snake catcher – handy to know), but the roo managed to squeeze through the fence and get away. I hope it heals, but the rescue lady said it wouldn't, because it's on the ankle. It may come back to my garden overnight, as I think it has been coming in for a while. It's only likely to deteriorate, so a painless end would be more humane. He would have been a majestic, powerful creature – over 6 feet tall. I wonder if it's the same one I caught on camera before? (not very likely; there are a lot of kangaroos in this area).