A kangaroo is lucky to be alive after he inhaled sea water in choppy surf at a Melbourne beach before being rescued and given CPR by two Australian police officers.

The officers were called to Safety Beach on Saturday afternoon after having received several calls that a kangaroo was in the ocean, Victoria Police said in a statement. 

By the time the officers had arrived, the kangaroo had made it back to the sand and been covered in a blanket by a beachgoer.

But then the roo became spooked and hopped back into the tumbling surf.

"It began to swim but got into difficulty in the swell and breaking waves and went under water a couple of times,” Victoria police said in a statement.

Two officers jumped into the surf to save the animal after it inhaled water.

"They managed to carry the kangaroo, which was unconscious, to a grassed area where they successfully resuscitated it," Victoria police said.

The officers did not use mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the marsupial.

A police spokesperson told DW that one of the officers had previously been told how to do CPR on his dog and remembered as he tried it out on the roo.

The animal was taken to a police station holding cell and assessed by a local wildlife center.

Police said the kangaroo is in "good spirits and lucky to be alive given the amount of salt water he inhaled."  

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