Kangaroo survives four days with arrow lodged in head Published duration 17 June 2015

image copyright Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital image caption Warning: This report contains graphic images of the injury

A kangaroo has survived for four days with an arrow lodged in her head after being shot in Queensland, Australia.

When the adult female was finally captured north of Brisbane on Tuesday, she was also carrying a baby kangaroo, Australia Zoo said in a statement.

Doctors performed surgery to remove the arrow, which came very close to her skull and brain.

The kangaroo and her joey (baby) were released back into the wild after the operation.

media caption Vets operating on the shot kangaroo discovered that she was pregnant

The animal was captured by Australia Zoo and the RSPCA near Toorbul and taken to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital for treatment.

The arrow "actually grazed the skull and came millimetres from her eye socket and optical nerves", the Australia Zoo statement said.

image copyright Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital image caption The kangaroo was stable and sedated the entire time

image copyright Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital image caption The arrow was clipped at both ends to reduce amount of tissue damage, the zoo said

It said the animal was sedated from when she arrived until when she was released back into the wild.

"She wouldn't have even known she was there, but she will be waking up in the wild much more comfortably without the arrow," the statement said.

"This type of deliberate cruelty towards animals is horrific, illegal and could have caused a certain slow, painful death for this mother kangaroo and her young joey."

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