Australian Wallaby Found Wandering Through KY Neighborhood [VIDEO]

Several years ago, while traveling I-65 on my way home from Nashville, I could have sworn I saw a dead kangaroo on the side of the road. I told myself it HAD to be a deer, but it really looked like a kangaroo.

The location of the animal wasn't terribly far from Kentucky Down Under, but, really, how often do animals actually escape from enclosures like that. Plus, I'm sure somebody would have seen it, and it would have been a news story in short order. So I decided it was a deer, despite lingering doubts.

A Wallaby in Kentucky

Now, a situation that has RECENTLY unfolded is an even bigger headscratcher, since the creature in question was found--in excellent shape--nowhere near something like a zoo or a reserve. (And even RESERVES are usually, ahem, reserved for native wildlife.) Folks in Perry County in eastern Kentucky must have been surprised to learn there was a kangaroo--or so they thought--in their midst. It turned out to be ANOTHER creature native to Australia. An organization called East Kentucky Thermal Drone Recovery was summoned to safely capture a wallaby.

And what a surprise for Chavies KY's Lexie Mullins when she checked her ring camera and saw a marsupial that was NOT a possum--the only marsupials native to North America:

Why Was a Wallaby Running Loose in Kentucky?

So why did this non-native creature light up eastern Kentucky this week? Well, it's a pet belonging to a Perry County resident. And while you might think they shouldn't have been able to secure such an animal as a pet, wallabies are not forbidden in the Kentucky statute that governs pet ownership. Additionally, the owners utilized a valid transportation permit when they brought it into the Commonwealth.

So now you know. You CAN own a wallaby in Kentucky. Wouldn't make for an interesting surprise under the tree on Christmas morning?

"You'll never guess what I got you" would then be the truest statement ever spoken.

[SOURCE: Miami Herald]