Heartwarming moment as kangaroo 'thanks' man after being rescued from freezing lake

The wild animal appeared to shake the hand of one of its rescuers to say "thanks". Photo / Facebook, Storyful

An incredible video has emerged of a sweet interaction between two men and a kangaroo after it found itself stranded in chilly water.

Three men spotted the roo standing on its own in Canberra's Lake Burley Griffin on Tuesday, and decided they would brave the icy water and potential injury to rescue it.

Video later shared to Facebook showed local man David Boyd and another man carefully approaching the wild animal with their arms outstretched.

The seemingly perplexed kangaroo fortunately stayed completely still, allowing the men to lift it out of the water and safely back on to dry land.

Another man caught the animal as it fell on to the footpath, appearing exhausted from the ordeal.

As the animal took a few moments to get steady on its feet, it used its paw to latch on to the arm of one of its rescuers.

"Aw it's thanking you," the man filming the event was heard saying.

Boyd, who shared the video to a local community group, said the "kangaroo came good".

"This was my morning – only in Canberra – well done to these two guys absolute champions – bloody freezing," his post read.

The kangaroo was carried out of the chilly lake by these two men. Photo / Facebook, Storyful

The footage received reactions from more than 3000 people, with hundreds of those praising the courageous work of the men involved.

"That water would have been freezing. Well done for rescuing that kangaroo," one person wrote in a comment.

"Well done, and cool how it thanked you," another wrote.

Others pointed out the men should consider themselves lucky the kangaroo's legs were too cold to be of use, as they may have been used as powerful weapons.

The wild animal appeared to shake the hand of one of its rescuers to say "thanks". Photo / Facebook, Storyful

"They did a great thing yes, however they are so lucky that roo was cold. Those back legs would have ripped them straight open," one person wrote.

"Yes they did an awesome job, but the way they handled that roo they could have been seriously injured," another said.

Dozens of others described the men as "legends" and praised them for their "awesome" work.