Runaway 'kangaroo' spotted in garden
"Is someone missing their kangaroo?" asked people in the small community of Innviertler Maria Schmolln (District Braunau) on Tuesday. Update: Gustav has been recaptured!
A woman from Upper Austria got the surprise of her life when she spotted a large brown marsupial foraging in her garden on Tuesday.
"At first I couldn't believe it. But it's really true," she told a local radio station.
Thinking no one would believe her without proof, Gerlinde P. quickly grabbed a camera, and took a picture of the Australian native, and posted it on her Facebook.
Photo: Facebook
Police have now informed kangaroo fans that the animal - in fact a Bennett's wallaby, one of three which escaped from its enclosure - was safely recaptured on Wednesday afternoon in the Brunau district. He is three years old, and his name is Gustav, although sometimes he's known as Anton. He went missing on October 6th. His owner has a total of seven marsupials. Police confirmed there had been more than one sighting of Gustav, and said that the wallaby was reported missing by its owner. Some diplomats however might have been suspicious, since the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon made it very clear in November 2014 that there are "no kangaroos in Austria."
Officials and police said capturing Gustav had been tricky. Whenever they arrived at the location where he had last been seen, the beast had hopped it towards the Kobernaußerwald.
Wallabies are very hardy, and can survive a winter in Austria if they find enough food, an official said.
This is not the first time a marsupial has been spotted in Austria. Back in summer 2010, a kangaroo called Sumsi disappeared from a private zoo in the southern village of Preding.
In 2006, another 'roo made a daring escape from its enclosure near the town of Veit, and was able to elude police for several days, until a local vet managed to bring it down with a tranquilizer gun.
Germany has also had its 'roos on the run' stories, with the sad case of Zippe, who died in January, a few months after escaping from a circus near Brandenburg. And in November, police were called in to capture a rogue kanga near the town of Duisburg.
Comments
See Also
A woman from Upper Austria got the surprise of her life when she spotted a large brown marsupial foraging in her garden on Tuesday.
"At first I couldn't believe it. But it's really true," she told a local radio station.
Thinking no one would believe her without proof, Gerlinde P. quickly grabbed a camera, and took a picture of the Australian native, and posted it on her Facebook.
Photo: Facebook
Some diplomats however might have been suspicious, since the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon made it very clear in November 2014 that there are "no kangaroos in Austria."
Officials and police said capturing Gustav had been tricky. Whenever they arrived at the location where he had last been seen, the beast had hopped it towards the Kobernaußerwald.
Wallabies are very hardy, and can survive a winter in Austria if they find enough food, an official said.
This is not the first time a marsupial has been spotted in Austria. Back in summer 2010, a kangaroo called Sumsi disappeared from a private zoo in the southern village of Preding.
In 2006, another 'roo made a daring escape from its enclosure near the town of Veit, and was able to elude police for several days, until a local vet managed to bring it down with a tranquilizer gun.
Germany has also had its 'roos on the run' stories, with the sad case of Zippe, who died in January, a few months after escaping from a circus near Brandenburg. And in November, police were called in to capture a rogue kanga near the town of Duisburg.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.