Exotic animals on loose in UK spark fears as police warn public not to approach

A pair of wallabies have escaped from their sanctuary in Thorner, and are currently on the loose with the police expressing concerns for public safety.

On Wednesday, Roxy and Amadeus, a pair of male and female albino wallabies, escaped their enclosure in North Leeds as a result of bad weather.

The climate conditions caused some damage on the exotic animals’ fence, leading to their breakout.

Despite being most recently spotted today by a neighbour in the village, as the two macropods roamed in her garden this morning, Roxy and Amadeus quickly fled the scene before anyone had the chance to catch them.

Roxy, the female, is reportedly carrying Joey, a baby wallaby, in her pouch.

The owner, Nathan Pearson-Clough, runs an animal sanctuary in Thorner called “Thorner Alpacas”, in which he kept the two fugitives.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Evening Post, he said: "The bad weather that we had last night knocked part of the big branch of a tree down and the branch knocked the wood off the top of the post, which then hit the meshing.

Nathan, who also owns alpacas, goats, bats, and various other species, assured that the rest of his animals were fine.

As both the police and the animal lover warned the public to not approach the oceanian creatures, Nathan explained in a post published on Facebook that getting closer to the pair would only scare them away.

"We do have a vet on standby that can dart if needed but the ideal scenario would be to be able to get them in an enclosed area such as a garden where someone could just calmly close the gate or a field because obviously trying to catch a wallaby in open space is very hard to do,” the owner explained.

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.

He added: "We're just hoping people can help us by keeping a lookout, checking your gardens and if one of them is in your garden, just calmly close your gate.

"They're not going to attack you, they're not dangerous animals, they are more frightened of you than you are of them.

"But if you do try to approach them they'll get scared and jump off and they can jump up to eight feet so please don't try and approach them."

Nathan pleaded for people in the area to be vigilant, as Roxy and Amadeus could be located anywhere from Thorner to other open farm fields such as in Bardsey and Scarcroft.

As Roxy is carrying baby Joey, the animal guardian asked for people to keep their dog on the lead, in order to not scare the mum off.

He added: "We obviously really want to find them both and don't want anything to be a threat to them.

"The fields have been secured again now and we just want to get them back in really."

West Yorkshire Police have asked to be contacted on 101 using the following reference number: "WYP log 1671 of 28/10/2021”.

Source: Read Full Article