Prepare for the wallaby invasion

Escaped wallabies may be about to overrun the English countryside, if we’re lucky.

This photograph shows a wallaby roaming freely in Cornwall, but if you look carefully you will also spot the joey sticking out of the wallaby’s pouch. Farm owner Mark Symons explained to the Telegraph how a male wallaby escaped from his farm in St Endellion, Cornwall about two years ago. But the wallaby in the photograph is no male, the randy fella must have found himself a mate even though his antipodean homeland is over 10,000 miles away.

“We lost a male wallaby two years ago and wondered what happened to him. They are very tough creatures and will certainly still be alive.” Mark said.

“He is a healthy boy and will eat anything and would be more than capable of surviving for years yet. The chances are he found a mate, a female that also escaped from somewhere. Wallabies find each other – they are renowned for it.

“This is almost certainly his mate and his little joey. Once they start breeding they don’t stop. They’ll be everywhere soon.”

The female was spotted in St Breward, Cornwall in the early hours of Thursday morning shortly after sunrise by a lorry driver heading out to work.

“I was awake early and I looked out of the window and there she was just sat there on the grass.” he told reporters.

“They are very distinctive so I knew straight away what it was. I went out to see what it was doing and I noticed it was a female and she had a baby in her pouch.

“She was just hopping about, enjoying the morning sun. The weird thing is she didn’t seem overly concerned or nervous of me being there, and she even started following me at one stage.

“I watched her for a few minutes and then a cat jumped out from somewhere and scared her off.

“She bounced off over a hedge and was gone. I couldn’t see her after that. It was very strange. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“I know these creatures are from Australia, so it seems very odd that one would turn up in my back yard.”

There is of course the possibility that wallaby numbers may be easily managed by the amount of big cats that are reported to be roaming the English countrysides these days.

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