Tales from the Zoo, Part Four

Then he heard the dogs. Their growling turned to yelps and barks. He could hear the sound of running, then scuffling and yelping. Running, then yelping. Then quiet.

Security got there with their headlights and flashlights. They dared not go down into the yard because they had no idea what to expect from those dogs. Of course they had their guns drawn, but they soon found they didn't need them. Both dogs were laying dead, their bloody bodies up against the wall. The females and joeys were still safely on the other side of the yard, but standing in a 10 to 15 foots circle around the dead dogs were the 7 boomers from the male yard. Their paws, both back and forepaws were covered with blood, as were their torsos.

These boomers had attacked and killed these two dogs. No one is sure if they grabbed the dogs and kicked them, or ran them into the wall, or what. It looked like they had kicked them to death. That was our guess because of the blood on the back paws of the boomers.

We were always studying these roos and up to this point, had never observed such a territorial display. Plus the fact they basically "rescued" the mob was something beyond our wildest imagination. What was odd was that we had separated the boomers from the mob a few days earlier because we were worried they might harm some of the newborn joeys.

Boy were we wrong. :)