Shane Rattenbury, a minister in the Australian Capital Territory government said he was on his morning jog when he almost collided with an eastern grey kangaroo that had been grazing on a front lawn.

“We both got a nasty fright – and of course when kangaroos are startled they lash out,” the 41-year-old said. “As the kangaroo sought to escape, it landed on me, and its claws dug into my leg.”

Rattenbury said the 1.4m marsupial knocked him down and left two deep scratches on his leg. A passerby who saw him lying injured on the roadside took him home.

He was then taken to hospital, where his wounds were cleaned and he received a tetanus jab.

“The nurse who treated me had treated someone before who had been scratched by a kangaroo and ended up with a very bad infection,” Rattenbury said. “So she was quite keen to give [the wound] a good clean-out.”

The minister said when he finally made it into Parliament later on, his colleagues seemed more concerned about the kangaroo’s welfare. “I can assure people that the kangaroo is fine,” he said. “It was last seen hopping off into the distance quite comfortably.”

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