While it is not a rare experience to see a kangaroo in the open spaces of the Australian outback, hitting one with a car at the airport is not an everyday thing. That being said, a kangaroo was hit by a car outside of Melbourne Airport. The kangaroo then hopped into the terminal and somehow made it by security before finding itself inside a pharmacy. Staff alerted security and animal control was called into the airport. During this time, police were forced to lock down part of the airport to make sure that further harm did not come to the kangaroo or people who were at the airport to board a flight.

Cyrus the Kangaroo

The kangaroo surprised employees and shoppers in the pharmacy as it hopped in, obviously hurt. It has since been nicknamed Cyrus. Once animal control volunteers arrived at the scene, the hurt animal was sedated and taken to a nearby vet for proper care. Cyrus is an eastern grey male and was carried out of the airport by the volunteers once they arrived at the scene. Luckily for the kangaroo, it did not suffer much harm from the initial accident. The vet reported that it had hurt his feet during the collision with the car and then damaged its claws from hopping on the tarmac.

Cyrus is expected to make a full recovery and will be returned back into the wild. Hopefully he has learned that the Airport is perhaps not the best place for a kangaroo and can enjoy hopping around the Australian outback.

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The idea of a kangaroo hopping into the airport in Melbourne almost comes across as a bad joke and many seemed to find the humor in the situation. Comedian Julia Morris happened to be at the airport while the scene was playing out. She sent out a tweet reading, ‘OK, so I’m at Melbourne airport & a KANGAROO has just jumped into the chemist.’ Similarly, employees at the pharmacy could not believe their eyes, let alone each other as they first learned the news that a kangaroo had decided to come in looking for treatment. Employees reported that they continued working as they thought someone was simply playing a practical joke on them.

This is actually not the first time that a kangaroo has decided to cause an interruption at the Melbourne airport. Back in January a different kangaroo had to be stopped as it found its way into the parking lot at one of the terminals. Luckily, this kangaroo did not receive any injuries, but still had to be sedated and brought back out into the wild. The airport itself is located in the bushland and it is not all too uncommon to see kangaroos lurking in the shadows around the area.

Although they are mostly placid, they can become dangerous to humans in certain situations. According to a 2002 census, there are almost 60 million kangaroos in Australia. While it likely will not be the last time this happens, it makes for an interesting story for the people who were there.