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Kangaroo hops into bed with startled Aussie family

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-10 10:16

SYDNEY – A startled Swiss immigrant and his family huddled under their blankets as a kangaroo bounced on top of them after bursting through a bedroom window, Australian media reported Monday.

A startled Swiss immigrant and his family huddled under their blankets as a kangaroo bounced on top of them after bursting through a bedroom window, Australian media reported Monday. [Agencies]

"My initial thought when I was half awake was: it's a lunatic ninja coming through the window," Beat Ettlin told the national AAP news agency. "It seems about as likely as a kangaroo breaking in."

The close encounter with the hopping marsupial began when Ettlin and his family were awoken early Sunday morning by their pet dog barking in the garden.

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The kangaroo then crashed through a three metre high (nine foot high) window into the master bedroom and onto the bed holding Ettlin, his partner Verity Beman and their nine-year-old daughter Beatrix.

The family ducked under the blankets as the animal jumped on top of them before heading out the door.

Ettlin said when he heard his 10-year-old son Leighton screaming "There's a roo in my room" he ran in and wrestled the two metre tall kangaroo into a headlock and dragged it down the hall and out the front door, AAP said.

The chef, originally from the Swiss city of Stans, was left wearing just his shredded underpants and with scratch marks on his leg and buttocks.

He described himself as "lucky". His partner described him as "a hero", saying she didn't know many men who would take on a kangaroo.

The kangaroo vanished into a nearby reserve and the family reported the intrusion to police and wildlife authorities.