Man died of 'blunt force injuries' at US zoo after suspected kangaroo fight -- The Guardian

[erronis]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/12/man-died-kangaroo-fight-south-carolina-zoo

South Carolina officials investigating death of Eric Slate, 52, and conditions of the petting zoo owned by his brother

Couldn't decide to file this under Evolution (devolution), Humor, or elsewhere. So into GD it goes.


5 Star Farm in Loris, South Carolina. Photograph: Google Maps

Officials in South Carolina are investigating the death of a man who was believed to have been killed while fighting a kangaroo in an enclosure at a children’s petting zoo.

Eric Slate, 52, died of “multiple blunt [force] injuries”, according to Tamara Willard, the chief deputy coroner of Horry county, as reported by WPDE News.

Local officials said Slate, brother of 5 Star Farm’s owner, Robert Slate, liked to enter the enclosure containing kangaroos and wallabies and “roughhouse” with a kangaroo named Jack.

Mark Causey, a Horry council member, told Newsweek that the animal was not euthanized, and that inspectors would visit the farm this week to look at the enclosure and assess conditions at the zoo.

A tribute posted to Facebook on Monday by Robert Slate featured a series of photographs of a man identified as Eric engaging with a kangaroo of almost the same height. “Your memory will live on, your voice will be heard, and Jack (your buddy, the kangaroo) will be fine,” he wrote.

“My brother, my friend, my rock, you left us with a smile on your face that won’t be forgotten.”

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