A missing kangaroo that had escaped its handlers and eluded police as well as a team of community searchers for three days has been safely apprehended by Durham Regional Police (DRPS).
In the early morning hours of Dec. 4, police officers saw the missing marsupial in a rural area near Winchester Road East and Harmony Road North in Oshawa and managed to keep it in their sights for the next several hours.
“Officers spotted the kangaroo around 3 a.m. and reached out to its handlers as to the best way to proceed,” DRPS spokesperson Sergeant Joanne Bortoluss told the Epoch Times.
“They were informed that the safest way to catch a kangaroo is to grab it by its tail, which they did.”
One officer, however, suffered minor injuries after being punched in the face by the marsupial. The kangaroo was returned to its handlers by 6 a.m.
During the three-day search, community members were warned to keep their distance as kangaroos can be dangerous, with the ability to kick a person to death, according to the University of Melbourne. While a kangaroo’s first response is to flee, it will attack if it feels that it has no other choice.
One of two kangaroos being transferred to a zoo in Quebec escaped its handlers while being moved from a transport truck into a facility during a stopover at the Oshawa Zoo on Nov. 30.
Several sightings showing the kangaroo hopping along a roadside and standing at the end of a driveway were posted online by community members. A community search ensued along with zoo staff members.
The kangaroo will be checked out by zoo personnel before heading to Quebec.
According to the Toronto Zoo and the World Animal Protection Canada, unregulated wildlife facilities such as the Oshawa Zoo are not allowed to house such animals because they do not have adequate systems and training in place to protect such animals.
“These recent incidents highlight the major gaps in laws and regulations of captive wildlife animals,“ Michèle Hamers, Wildlife Campaign Manager for World Animal Protection Canada, said in a joint statement with the Toronto Zoo. ”Because there is no oversight, we have no idea where this kangaroo came from, whether the animal was transported in suitable conditions, the vaccination status of the animal, or any requirements for facilities accepting the animal, even temporarily.”
Ms. Hamers urged the Ontario government to enforce and strengthen existing regulations to “truly protect exotic animals currently in unaccredited roadside zoos and private ownership.”
