A five-year-old boy has been left with horrific injuries after being attacked by a kangaroo while protecting his little sister.
Cooper Heinz and Georgia, three, were playing in their backyard in New South Wales, Australia, on Monday when the terrifying incident happened.
Their mum Holly Madden said a five-foot kangaroo began to attack Georgia before brave Cooper instinctively tried to chase the animal while telling his sister to run away.
Cooper, who has autism, managed to get in between his sister and the kangaroo - but the animal pounced on him instead.
Ms Madden, stood 25m away, was forced to watch as the animal kicked her little boy to the ground and jumped on his head.
Shocking photographs show deep looking cuts over Cooper's back, arms and one across his forehead.
She told the Daily Mail: "He was so brave. He was running and yelling 'run Georgia, run.'"
The mum added: "Cooper tried to get back up and I told him to lay down because the kangaroo kicked him down again."
"I freaked out and grabbed a cricket bat and started running and screaming trying to get the kangaroo to stop."
Eventually the kangaroo left, but poor Cooper had already suffered deep scratches on his arms, torso and head.
His mum says he hasn't spoken to anyone aside from his immediate family since the attack - even though he's normally very good at chatting to people.
Both children are now too scared to go outside.
Ms Madden says Georgia told the family to 'be quiet or the big kangaroo will hear'.
But the mum says she's just glad she was around at the time of the attack.
