(CNN) A woman in Australia needed 25 stitches to her face and almost lost an eye after being mauled by a kangaroo while walking her dog.

The attack happened near a popular walking trail in the city of Wodonga, in the state of Victoria, according to CNN affiliate 9News . Dina, who declined to share her last name, let her pet dog off its leash and it began chasing a large male kangaroo -- prompting her to try to intervene.

"I ran up the embankment to try and get my dog away but not realizing that I was only three or four meters behind the roo," Dina told 9News. "And that's when I sensed the roo was panicking, and thinking, 'I'm being attacked on all sides.'"

She turned around right as the kangaroo attacked her from behind, knocking her to the ground.

The woman needed 25 stitches to the face and an operation at the hospital for her leg wounds.

"He gouged out the back of my leg, I know now if I hadn't turned around, I would probably have been disemboweled," she told 9News.

Read More