Dramatic video captures heroic police rescue of a drowning baby kangaroo

A baby kangaroo is safe, thanks to the quick actions of two Australian police officers who waded into the surf to pull the young marsupial from the waves.

The rescue happened Saturday afternoon at Safety Beach in Victoria, where local police responded to reports of a young kangaroo in the water.

They said it had already made its way out of the waves by the time they arrived, and they were attempting to contain it while waiting on wildlife experts to show up when it suddenly ran back into the surf. As the kangaroo swam deeper, they could tell it was struggling.

A video shot by bystanders captured what happened next.

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"His head went under a couple of times and when his head popped up he was starting to spew out a lot of salt water which had a bit of blood and some foam in it. And that's a fair indication that we see also in people that they're going through a drowning event," one of the police officers said in an interview with 7 News Brisbane.

Both officers leapt into action and ran into the waves to pull the kangaroo back to shore. It was unconscious by the time they pulled it out of the water, though the officers were able to revive it with CPR. Though they later clarified there was no mouth-to-mouth involved in the resuscitation, one of the officers said he had learned to give chest compression to dogs from his veterinarian.

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As for the kangaroo, he's now in the care of a wildlife organization and is expected to make a full recovery.

"The roo is currently being cared for but is said to be in good spirits and lucky to be alive given the amount of salt water he inhaled, thanks to his rescuers," Rosebud police said in a statement.