Officers with Dallas Animal Control captured a wallaby on a leisurely jaunt in the east Dallas neighborhood of Lakewood Wednesday morning.
Officers with Dallas Animal Control captured a wallaby on a leisurely jaunt in the east Dallas neighborhood of Lakewood Wednesday morning.
Tim and Casey Teirnan were out for a walk when they spotted what they first thought was a loose dog near the 5900 block of Vickery Boulevard.
"We thought it was a dog and then it hopped and it was unmistakable that it was not a dog and I said, 'Oh my god, that's a kangaroo!'" Tim Tiernan recalled.
It turned out to be a wallaby.
The wallaby, a native of Australia and New Guinea, belongs in the same family as a kangaroo but is much smaller by comparison.
Dallas Animal Control officers were called and they were able to corner and catch the animal with a net.
"It's just another day in the life of Lakewood," Casey Teirnan said.
The animal, later identifed as Muggsy, was taken to Dallas Animal Services and reunited with his owner.
A spokesperson for Dallas Animal Services says Muggsy's owner is visiting Dallas from Oklahoma. The animal was in a backyard nearby when he escaped though a hole in the fence.
Muggsy was reuinted with his owner, who wasn't identified.
In a comment on Facebook, DAS says Muggsy "spends most of his time on a ranch in the country where he has space to explore."
It is legal to own a wallaby in Dallas as long as you have a proper permit.
