A lazy rescue kangaroo has developed a passion for lounging on sofas and is never happy when he is asked to go to bed.
Kym Haywood, 51, who runs Pumpkin’s Patch Kangaroo Sanctuary in Boston, South Australia, says Rufus took an interest in the family’s couch as soon as she took him in as an eight-month-old joey.
Now at almost four years old, he is still obsessed and insists on hopping on his favourite seat and crashing out there every evening – even pushing Kym and her husband Neil away when they try to make him leave.
Four-year-old kangaroo Rufus is obsessed with lying on the couch with Kym Haywood and her husband Neil, who run the Pumpkin’s Patch Kangaroo Sanctuary in Boston, South Australia
Every evening the large marsupial waits at the back door to be let in for an evening of relaxing on the sofa in front of the television
Hilarious footage shows the huge marsupial stretching his whole body across three seats on the sofa with his feet up while getting cuddles and tummy rubs from Neil, 53.
As Kym tells the kangaroo, nicknamed Rufy, it is time for bed he comically slumps further down into the sofa and buries his head.
In a bid to shift the large animal, they entice Rufus with grapes which he willingly accepts before flopping back down.
Sometimes Kym even gives the couch-potato kangaroo’s belly a brush while he reclines.
She said: ‘We don’t have to fight Rufus for space anymore – we just keep moving over as he grows. That spot on the couch is all his.
‘If anyone comes over we tell them they can’t sit there because that’s Rufus’ seat, that space is reserved for him.’
Kym and Neil have lost a significant amount of their couch space since Rufus, who they have has since he was eight months old has found his favourite spot
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The pair adore Rufus, who is one of 28 kangaroos, two wallaroos and two wombats at the sanctuary
Every evening around 6pm Rufus will turn up at the couple’s back door waiting to be let in and lounge on the couch before heading back outside to go to sleep.
Kym said: ‘When he started doing it we thought it was the cutest thing ever and we could see that Rufus was very different to the others and how much he loved the couch and how safe he felt there.
‘He goes into the deepest sleep as he knows he is very safe there and doesn’t mind watching a bit of TV.’
The couple picked Rufus up from the vets when he was just eight months old and he has been with them ever since – discovering the sofa very early on.
Getting Rufus to move when he is settled and comfy can sometimes be difficult for the pair, who have to bribe him with grapes to encourage him to get up
‘We didn’t get him off as he loved it but just covered the couch with mattress protectors for any accidents.
‘We really just go along with what makes him happy.
‘He does get a bit cranky, if he doesn’t want to be bothered by us sitting next to him, he will just gently push us off.’
Kym has been rescuing orphaned joeys for more than four years and now looks after 28 kangaroos, two wallaroos and two wombats at the sanctuary.
Kym said: ‘I’ve always been an animal lover and know with having the sanctuary I know what I was put on this earth to do.’