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| Not a wallaby, but close. |
Roo, a 1-year-old marsupial, has evaded recapture since escaping his backyard enclosure in Blanchard, a city 30 miles south of Oklahoma City, Wednesday morning, according to city officials.
The 4-foot-tall wallaby may have jumped over the fence, but owner Gil Gilbreath thinks it more likely Roo hopped out of its open gate.
“It’s a chain link gate and I guess a dog must have hit the latch,” Gilbreath told Fox 25.
“I have a dog that likes to play with him through the fence.”
Roo had been living inside the backyard petting zoo, where Gilbreath said the animal typically acted friendly, though shy and “a little skittish.”
Neighbors have spotted Roo hopping through Blanchard in the last three days, but have not come close to the escape artist.
Gilbreath said he’s still working to tame the animal and as a result, “he’s going to be hard to catch when we find him.”
The owner suspects the young Australian native — which is similar to a kangaroo but smaller — is likely hiding out in the tall grass or thick woods that line the edge of town.
“He likes it and he likes to hide in it. I think he’s probably in there if he hasn’t moved on from this pasture somewhere,” he said.
A wallaby is any kangaroo-like critter smaller than proper kangaroos — Wikipedia lists about 45 species currently extant, plus a couple of extinct ones. In the wild they live about a decade, so as long as the silly thing does not find a mate, eventually the coyotes will take care of him.