It’s a jungle out there: Wallaby runs loose in LaVerkin neighborhood

A wallaby found in a LaVerkin field, LaVerkin, Utah, Oct. 16, 2014 | Photo courtesy of LaVerkin Police Officer Amber Crouse, St. George News

LAVERKIN – A creature from down under hopped through a LaVerkin neighborhood Thursday afternoon, giving a few residents a startled jump back after it escaped from the home of a local family.

A wallaby found in a LaVerkin field, LaVerkin, Utah, Oct. 16, 2014 | Photo courtesy of LaVerkin Police Officer Amber Crouse, St. George News
A wallaby found in a LaVerkin neighborhood, LaVerkin, Utah, Oct. 16, 2014 | Photo courtesy of Amber Crouse, St. George News

“It turned out to be a wallaby, and it’s somebody’s pet,” LaVerkin Police Officer Amber Crouse said.

At approximately 12:20 p.m., the LaVerkin Police Department received a report of a baby kangaroo on the loose in a residential neighborhood.

“I thought, ‘Well, this is a joke,’ and it wasn’t,’” LaVerkin Animal Control Officer Patti Dekker said.

Officers responded to the scene and found not a kangaroo, but a wallaby loose in a cow pasture.

“It got into a field and some cows were chasing it,” Crouse said.

Onlookers who saw the wallaby being pursued by the cows were concerned for the animal’s safety and called authorities. Crouse said her own children saw the wallaby drinking out of a ditch.

“I think it just got scared and got out of (the owner’s) fence,” Crouse said. “Yeah, it scared some cows.”

Just as animal control officers arrived at the scene, so did the wallaby’s owners. The owners were able to crate the animal and take it back home, Crouse said.

Authorities are now looking into the legalities of the family owning such an exotic pet.

“We’ve been working with a bunch of different agencies to try and work out if it’s legal,” Crouse said.

“The owners are being really cooperative,” she added.

For the present, the wallaby is back home with its LaVerkin family.

“It’s with the owners right now,” Crouse said. “We don’t know what we’re going to do with it quite yet but hopefully we’ll know soon.”

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5 Comments

  • Mikki October 17, 2014 at 12:06 am

    Every time I read a story like this in the news, I am left pondering the same question…. Where does one go to get a pet like that?

    • Anubic October 17, 2014 at 7:38 am

      We have them running wild here… they also are very good tasting, So nice to know that its gonna feel like home when I get there with wallabies bouncing around

  • JOSH DALTON (INCOGNEGRO) October 17, 2014 at 9:18 am

    AWESOME! I am just glad they did not run the poor guy over and then put a bullet in its head. GO FALCONS!

    • Zonkerb November 23, 2014 at 4:33 pm

      Hey Josh go have a soda

  • TJ October 17, 2014 at 10:58 am

    Wallabies do not live in the jungle… So why the headline?

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