Runaway wallabies spark cross-border hunt in France, Belgium

Straits Times

3 days ago

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Firemen captured one of the fugitives on July 22, but its accomplice was still unaccounted for.
BRUSSELS - Two runaway wallabies have sparked a cross-border chase in Belgium and France, with police and firefighters hot on the heels of the fast-hopping marsupials.
Firemen captured one of the fugitives on July 22 near the northern French city of Lille – days after the pair broke out of their enclosure in the border town of Mouscron, Belgium.
But its accomplice was still unaccounted for on July 24 at noon.
The escape took place while their owner was on holiday overseas and had entrusted the care of the animals to a neighbour, said Belgian police.
'We are not combing the area to find it, it could be anywhere,' a Mouscron police spokeswoman told AFP.
'We are mainly waiting for a local resident who might spot him to report his location'.
The bouncing duo went on the loose over the weekend and sightings soon spread across the region.
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Footage of the animals hopping around urban areas, at times scared by passing motorists, went viral on social media.
'Thank you for doing everything you can to find these poor animals,' an internet user commented on the Mouscron police Facebook page.
The fire department in France's Nord district mused that the marsupials had 'suddenly decided to explore the world around them, far from the Australian plains, closer to the urban jungle'.
A smaller member of the kangaroo family, wallabies are native of Australia and the country's rugby team is nicknamed after them.
Firefighters in Wattrelos, France, eventually cornered one of the escapees on the evening of July 22 after it ventured into the garden of a residential building.
'An anti-escape net was deployed to prevent the marsupial from making a run for it,' the fire service said.
'Indeed, the main fear was that the animal could cause an accident or injure itself.'
It took wildlife specialists two hours to get the wallaby safely inside a cage.
It was then 'returned to its kingdom, that of Belgium' and freed back into its enclosure, the fire department said.
Owning wallabies and other exotic animals is allowed in Belgium as long as they are fed, cared for and not mistreated. AFP