Man pulls baby kangaroo from flood

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IPSWITCH, Australia, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A concerned Australian who waded into flood-enhanced waters to rescue a baby kangaroo said he couldn't "watch our coat of arms just drown."

Ray Cole, 39, a father of five from Queensland, said he was standing with about 50 others at the One Mile Bridge in Ipswitch when they noticed the joey struggling to stay above the fast-moving flood waters, the Melbourne Herald-Sun reported Thursday.

"When I was growing up on the streets of Preston we learned and lived by the motto that you reach out and help others," Cole said.

Cole said the motto was in his head when we waded out into the water, grabbed the joey by the scruff of its neck and brought it back to shore.

"Last time I saw it, people had wrapped a blanket around it and it was back on its feet," Cole said.

He said the heroic deed earned him a lecture from police who told him he could have been arrested.

"You do what you do and I can live with that," he said.