Fishermen rescue unconscious wallaby from waters 200m off Phillip Island

Two Victorian fishermen have saved the life of a wallaby they found floating unconscious off Phillip Island, near Melbourne.

Aidan Heenan, 26, and his friend Josh Lawn were fishing in a tinny when they spotted the animal struggling about 200m offshore on Monday. 

"We saw it tumbling around in the water and we thought it might've been a seal," Mr Heenan told 9news.com.au. 

"We were only about 50m off it and we saw the tail hanging out and there was water tumbling out of his mouth. 

"By the time we got to him he was knackered and had stopped moving at all." 

The men fished the wallaby out of the water with a net, but feared it may have died. 

"He'd pretty much drowned and he was passed out," Mr Heenan said. 

"Josh thought he was dead... but we tilted him and squeezed his lungs a bit and all the water came out of his lungs. 

"By that time we thought we better get him close to the shore." 

The wallaby regained consciousness while the men were searching for a spot to release it, and had started to bounced around by the time they landed.  

"We got close to shore and saw a dog running around, so we found another beach about a kilometre away," Mr Heenan said. 

Mr Heenan thought the dog may have initially driven the wallaby into the water, and said he'd seen a similar situation with a dog and a kangaroo at Lake Eildon.

To avoid injury, he lifted the wallaby by its tail and carried it to safety on the secluded beach. 

"We put him on the sand and he just lay there, but I waved my hand in his face and he was responsive," he said. 

The men left the animal to recover and returned hours later, unsure if it would have survived the ordeal. 

"We came back and there were hop marks and a tail mark in the sand," Mr Heenan said. 

"We kind of looked at each other and high-fived." 

Their rescue must have happened in the nick of time, he said.