About

Kangaroo Punch Video refers to a viral video in which an Australian man punches a large kangaroo in the head to save his dog.

Origin

On June 15th, 2016, Australian zoo keeper Greig Tonkins was hunting for feral pigs in New South Wales when his dog was attacked by a large kangaroo. Tonkins ran over to free the dog from the kangaroos grasp, leading the kangaroo to move towards him aggressively. In defense, Tonkins punched the kangaroo in the snout, stunning the animal so he could escape (shown below).





Spread

On December 3rd, Facebook user Steven Stubenrauch reuploaded the video, gathering upwards of 4.2 million views, 118,000 shares and 61,000 likes over the next ten days.

That day, the Daily News Updates YouTube channel posted a clip from the video, which received more than 2.8 million views within the same timeframe. On December 4th, the ViralHog YouTube channel posted a high quality version of the film, which gathered upwards of 35 million views and 73,000 comments within nine days. The following day, YouTuber Ozzy Man Reviews posted the video along with humorous commentary dubbed over (shown below, left). Also on December 5th, YouTuber Cr1tikal uploaded another fight commentary video (shown below, right).





Meanwhile, The Guardian published an statement from the Taronga Zoo, announcing they would not fire Tonkin from his position as zookeeper despite demands from animal rights activists. On December 7th, PETA released a statement condemning Tonkin for punching the kangaroo, saying "punching a kangaroo in the face is neither brave nor funny."

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External References