Lewis suffered puncture wounds and scratches to his head and torso.
Lewis suffered puncture wounds and scratches to his head and torso.
A father who jumped to the defence of his son as he was being mauled by a kangaroo has said the five year old has been left traumatised by the incident.

Brenton Dyer was doing some work in the back of his Valla Beach home in New South Wales, south of Coffs Harbour, on Thursday when he saw the animal jumping at his five-year-old son Lewis.

Lewis and his brother Jedd, 10, had been playing in the family's backyard.

"I heard a bit of commotion and I just saw a kangaroo jumping and on top of my son," Dyer told 7NEWS.com.au.

"I could just see him and a cloud of dust."


Dyer said he immediately ran out and tackled the kangaroo, which was almost 190cm tall, about the same height as him.

"It was just 'protect at all costs'," he said.

"I didn't even think."

"Once it was over, I just didn't know what I was going to find as in what the injuries were going to be."

But the five year old was lucky and walked away with only puncture wounds and scratches to his head and torso.

Lewis was playing with his older brother when the kangaroo attacked.
Lewis was playing with his older brother when the kangaroo attacked.
"He looked like he'd been in a ring with a tiger, to be honest," Dyer said.

The boy's dad now worries about the psychological impacts of the attack.

"He's a healthy young kid, he's healed up great up," Dyer said.

"It's just more the psychological (stuff) that I'm sort of worried about.

"We had to go down for a walk back to where it happened yesterday and he didn't want to go out."

Dyer also said the attack has impacted his older son who told his little brother to run when he saw the animal "but (Lewis) wasn't as quick as Jedd".

"He's really traumatised," Dyer said.

"He probably feels as though he should've done more."