Cornwallaby??

Crikey skip! Cornwall woman discovers Wallaby in her garden

Last updated at 12:40pm on 20th September 2007 Comments

Stunned Pam Balding's heart hopped a beat when she opened her curtains and saw a wallaby in her garden.

Pam, 58, watched as the two foot high marsupial sat on a garden wall munching her shrubs before bounding off into the undergrowth.

Stunned Pam couldn't believe her eyes and even called her husband Alan, 67, to the window at 8am to check she wasn't seeing things.

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The wallaby, who had been on the run from a nearby petting zoo for eight days, enjoyed the shrubs in Pam and Alan's garden

Florist Alan said: "My wife looked out of the window while I was still getting dressed. She said 'I'm not joking, can you tell me if this dog is a kangaroo?'

"It was actually on top of the wall grazing on shrubs, stood about two foot high."

Quick-thinking Alan grabbed his camera and took a snap of the wallaby as it stared straight at him - just in case no-one believed their story.

Pam said: "I was making breakfast when I glanced outside and saw this strange creature sitting on my rock wall.

"First I thought it must be a dog, then it looked more like a rabbit - I suppose I was half asleep.

"I called to Alan and he came rushing downstairs. He was a lovely looking chap.We hope he might come back again so we will be keeping an eye out in the mornings."

The Baldings, of St Breward near Bodmin, Cornwall, later discovered the wallaby had spent eight days on the run after escaping from a nearby petting zoo.

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The couple watched as the fugitive wallaby prepared to bound off back into the undergrowth

Owner Mark Symons, 38, who runs Trevathan Farm near St Endellion, Cornwall, was feeding the wallaby's when the animal made a bolt for freedom.

He said: "We'd only had him two days before he got out through some wiring on his pen that clearly wasn't tough enough.

"He's only about seven months old but he's nearly fully grown and can run at about 30 miles and hour - so although we tried to catch him we didn't have much of a chance."

Now a team of farm workers have been sent to trawl through the area with a series of nets to in the hope of catching the wallaby.

Mark said: "He can survive on his own - he's like a big rabbit and will eat grass or berries or anything like that.

"But we just want to get him back because his partner is pining a bit, and she's pregnant - though the baby isn't his.

"Neither of the wallaby's has a name yet, but we've certainly come up with a few choice ones for him since this happened."