VIDEO: Australian Man Punches Kangaroo in the Face to Allegedly Rescue His Dog

An Australian man was filmed fist-fighting a kangaroo to save his dog Max

In case you didn’t know, Kangaroo boxing actually used to be a thing in the early 20th century. Recently, an Australian man temporarily resurrected the sport for a very good reason: to save his dog Max.

Kangaroos and dogs generally don’t get along in the wilds of Australia, which usually turns out much worse for the dog, since ‘roos can kick, punch, choke and in some cases drown anything they think of as a threat. Also certain species can grow up to 6-feet tall and look like Sylvester Stallone at the peak of his Rambo-era ripped-ness.

But a dog owner’s gotta do what a dog owner’s gotta do, and so this Aussie, upon discovering that Max was being choked by a huge kangaroo, seemingly hauls off and socks the marsupial in the jaw.

It’s not quite a TKO, but it does the trick: The kangaroo releases the dog, which departs with its owner, while the kangaroo simply stands there, stunned, for a minute.

The lesson here is that, much like bears — yet another animal that’s been punched on behalf of a dog — you should never get between man and his best friend.

Since the video went wildly viral, News.com.au has provided a bit more background on the situation, and it’s definitely a unique one.

The video was apparently filmed during a hunting trip organized for a young man named Kailem, who succumbed to cancer last week, Matthew Amor, the trip’s organizer, told the site.

Kailem wanted to catch a boar, Amor said, so the friends took to Amor’s property in New South Wales, with someone shooting DVD footage for Kailem’s family.

One of the hunting dogs — who are apparently trained not to touch kangaroos — got snared by the marsupial, so Greg Tonkins — a zookeeper at Taronga’s Westerns Plains Zoo, intervened.

Amor said the dog was fine, thanks to a special collar it wears while boar-hunting, though Tonkins may face disciplinary action at his job, which said it’s “reviewing the case.”

But Amor says at least one person would find the whole thing funny: “Kailem would be looking down from up there and laughing because it was the highlight of the trip.”