A Canberra man has been attacked by what he thought was a dead eastern grey kangaroo, after he stopped by the side of the road to check its pouch for a joey.

Billy Willox was left with blood pouring from his eyes and requiring plastic surgery to repair his face — all after doing what he thought was the right thing.

"All of a sudden, it just got up," he said of the roo.

"Before I knew it, it had gone for my eyes. It was very, very quick.

"I just couldn't move away from it."

Mr Willox was eventually able to kick the kangaroo away and that was when he felt the blood around his eyes.

In a state of shock, he got behind the wheel and managed to drive the short distance home.

Kerrie Venables (right) said all she could see "was two split eyes" when her partner came home. ( ABC News: Tahlia Roy )

He had only left for work minutes beforehand, but now the bus driver was bursting through his front door and calling out for his partner to take him to hospital.

"When he turned around, all I could see was two split eyes." his partner Kerrie Venables said.

"It was just so gruesome and he just kept trying to wash them out."

The pair ended up in Canberra Hospital, where emergency staff told Mr Willox the ligaments and skin tissue around his eyes had been torn.

Mr Willox underwent plastic surgery and was given a tetanus shot, and two-weeks later he's back at work, feeling incredibly lucky to have come away with his eyesight in tact.

'It might be their last hurrah'

Dealing with dead, or injured, kangaroos is not your job. Call the rangers. ( ABC News: Tahlia Roy )

ACT Park Ranger Joel Patterson said it was not unusual for injured animals to appear to rise from the dead.

"They can spring quite quickly into action and cause quite a bit of damage," he said.

"I've seen it often with kangaroos that have sustained quite severe injuries; they have this last surge where they just spring to life a little bit.

"Often that might be their last hurrah."

It is only one of the risks related to choosing to help after hitting a kangaroo, with a woman hit by a car while trying to remove roadkill from the Monaro Highway in May.

Following his attack, Mr Willox warned others to call for help rather than approaching injured or dead wildlife.

"I just think that it's not worth it," he said.

"Other people have told me how vicious they can be because they've actually been in similar situations and … [now] I would probably just phone the rangers.

"There is a 24-hour wildlife ranger that is able to come and assist … with the right equipment and the right vehicles to take care of the job."

The on-call rangers can be reached via Access Canberra on 13 22 81.