Awww, just look at that cute little face! Who would ever think that this adorable creature would have a vicious bite? Well, it's true...
Bruijn's Pademelon

A Bruijn's pademelon is a type of small macropod that lives in Papua New Guinea. Macropods are the animals commonly known as kangaroos. They come in several different sizes. Kangaroos are generally the largest, followed by wallaroos, wallabies and pademelons. Since they are grazers, pademelons have sharp teeth at the front of their mouths for ripping up grass and other vegetation. These teeth are also excellent at piercing the flesh of an annoying animal trainer.
Our Bruijn's pademelon, whose name was Springer, was part of our educational programs during the summer. Until it was his turn to be on stage, Springer sat quietly in his crate behind the scenes. Right before he was due onstage, the hapless zookeeper was supposed to reach in, attach a leash to the collar he wore behind his front legs, and coax him out of the crate with a grape. I have been bitten by Springer at each one of these steps. Sometimes Springer simply preferred to be left in his crate. Perhaps he was altruistically trying to allow some of the other animals more time in the limelight. More likely, since he was crepuscular (meaning active at dawn and at dusk), he was simply annoyed that I was waking him during his sleep cycle.
No matter what amount of blood I was losing, it was my responsibilitiy to get that "pouch potato" (get it? it's a pun on the phrase "couch potato"... We actually used this joke on stage for three years running. It brought down the house every time) out onto stage. The other tricky part, besides stanching the bleeding, was to prevent Springer from simply lifting up his cute little forelimbs and wiggling out from the collar. There was no way possible to tighten the collar to the point where it was truly secure, so I simply had to prevent him from backing up. Much easier said than done. Nevertheless, in all his years of show business, Springer never got completely free of that collar. That fact was definitely good for my career.
Grey kangaroos may be famous for their boxing ability, but you've got to watch out for the little ones too... they can bite!