Post by Chris Mullins on Feb 27, 2005 22:19:39 GMT
Here's the latest on our Derbyshire Wallaby, very sad indeed, and in Lisa's own words: What rotten luck........
I'd been so bogged down recently, I haven't been able to keep up dated with this...........
Chris
Wallaby returns but drowns in pond
by NERMIN OOMER
AN escaped pet wallaby which was on the run for more than three weeks has died after returning home.
The male family pet had been on the run since he escaped from the paddock it shared with a female companion in the early hours of Thursday, January 20.
A search was launched by his owner and police and the wallaby was spotted by motorists in Walton Road, Drakelow, on a number of occasions.
The marsupial travelled as far as Rosliston and managed to evade several attempts at capture, hopping off before his owner could get hold of him.
However, the fugitive was lured back home on Saturday by the sweet smelling scent of his female pal’s urine but met a tragic death in his owner’s garden pond before being captured.
The owner, who did not want to be named, said: "I put out some of the female’s bedding and urine in a bag to try to attract him back home and on Sunday morning I went out to my pond to feed my fish and saw a brown mass at the bottom."
The wallaby had drowned in three and a half feet of water.
His owner said: "It’s gutted us because he came home and died under our noses.
"Wallabies can swim but the sides of the pond are quite steep so perhaps he couldn’t get out. My dogs were barking away on Saturday night as they must have smelled him. All the lily pads in the pond were scattered. He must have hopped onto the patio and then into the pond."
The wallaby’s owner thanked everyone who helped search for his 2ft tall, brown and grey pet which escaped after strong winds blew lose a catch on his paddock gate.
Wallabies, which look like small kangaroos, are native to Australia and New Guinea, but wild colonies of the creatures are known to exist in this country. They range from the size of a rabbit to almost 6ft long and have soft woolly fur.
Chris Mullins, an exotic wildlife researcher who lives in Leicestershire, said: "I know over the past 10 years there have been reports of colonies in Derbyshire and Staffordshire.
"Wallabies tend to only be around in dusk and dawn, and the tracks they leave are much like sheep so are very difficult to find."
The marsupials eat vegetables including turnips, lettuce, carrots and grass.
15/02/2005
(Source: Burton Mail - 15th February 2005)
www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id=5264336
Comments:
"Again I thought I'd just add I never said Wallabies tracks are like that of a sheeps"
I'd been so bogged down recently, I haven't been able to keep up dated with this...........
Chris
Wallaby returns but drowns in pond
by NERMIN OOMER
AN escaped pet wallaby which was on the run for more than three weeks has died after returning home.
The male family pet had been on the run since he escaped from the paddock it shared with a female companion in the early hours of Thursday, January 20.
A search was launched by his owner and police and the wallaby was spotted by motorists in Walton Road, Drakelow, on a number of occasions.
The marsupial travelled as far as Rosliston and managed to evade several attempts at capture, hopping off before his owner could get hold of him.
However, the fugitive was lured back home on Saturday by the sweet smelling scent of his female pal’s urine but met a tragic death in his owner’s garden pond before being captured.
The owner, who did not want to be named, said: "I put out some of the female’s bedding and urine in a bag to try to attract him back home and on Sunday morning I went out to my pond to feed my fish and saw a brown mass at the bottom."
The wallaby had drowned in three and a half feet of water.
His owner said: "It’s gutted us because he came home and died under our noses.
"Wallabies can swim but the sides of the pond are quite steep so perhaps he couldn’t get out. My dogs were barking away on Saturday night as they must have smelled him. All the lily pads in the pond were scattered. He must have hopped onto the patio and then into the pond."
The wallaby’s owner thanked everyone who helped search for his 2ft tall, brown and grey pet which escaped after strong winds blew lose a catch on his paddock gate.
Wallabies, which look like small kangaroos, are native to Australia and New Guinea, but wild colonies of the creatures are known to exist in this country. They range from the size of a rabbit to almost 6ft long and have soft woolly fur.
Chris Mullins, an exotic wildlife researcher who lives in Leicestershire, said: "I know over the past 10 years there have been reports of colonies in Derbyshire and Staffordshire.
"Wallabies tend to only be around in dusk and dawn, and the tracks they leave are much like sheep so are very difficult to find."
The marsupials eat vegetables including turnips, lettuce, carrots and grass.
15/02/2005
(Source: Burton Mail - 15th February 2005)
www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id=5264336
Comments:
"Again I thought I'd just add I never said Wallabies tracks are like that of a sheeps"