By GREG ANSLEY
CANBERRA - She may be blind in one eye and consider herself a dog, but a western grey kangaroo named Lulu has upstaged Skippy, Australia's iconic television 'roo.
At the height of wild storms that swept up the eastern seaboard over the weekend, Lulu led rescuers to Leonard Richards,
a hobby farmer knocked senseless by a branch snapped from a tree by gale-force winds.
A paramedic said Mr Richards might have died had he not been found so soon.
The 'roo headed at full bound back to the homestead, where she bashed against a sliding door until Mr Richards' wife, Lynn, decided to investigate.
Mr Richards, 52, had been checking a tree in a paddock about 300m from the house in the Victorian coalmining town of Morwell when he was knocked down.
After Mrs Richards, daughter Celeste, 17, and son Luke found him, he was taken to hospital with head injuries. He was released on Sunday night.
Celeste said Lulu was making a noise that sounded like a dog barking.
'If it wasn't for her, my dad could have died. We might not have found him for ages," Celeste told AAP.
"Lulu and Dad are very close and she follows him around, but we all just love her so much. Lulu is my hero."
The family adopted the western grey as a joey 10 years ago when they found her in the pouch of her mother, who had been killed by a car.
Comparisons with the famous Skippy were inevitable. The television star was an orphaned eastern grey adopted by a park ranger.
The rescue has amazed wildlife experts. Wildlife sanctuary senior veterinarian David Middleton said he had never heard of a wild kangaroo doing anything helpful to a human.
"So some kind of trusting relationship with this kangaroo and the family must have developed over the years."
