Man spots wallaby hopping around English countryside

By Paul Armstrong and Filipa Gaspar

A wallaby has been spotted hopping around the Cornwall, England countryside.

Scot Weller was driving into Liskeard when he saw what he initially thought was a dog in the road ahead.

The owner of Original Cornish Pasties says the animal was jumping along the road in front of him as he drove to work.

He then realized it was a wallaby.

No one knows how the marsupial native to Australia ended up in Cornwall.

Last month, a wallaby was also spotted in north Devon.

Scott said there were several cars behind him and, worried the animal could be hit, he decided to follow it.

The wallaby then made its way onto the sidewalk and stopped.

He said: "But then I realized it was hopping and that it was a wallaby on the loose."

Scott pulled alongside and said to the escaped marsupial: "Hello, you're not from around here, are you?"

The animal then disappeared down a side road toward the local Co-op.

"It was a bit sad that he was out there on his own, as there can't have been much for it to eat because of the heatwave we've been having," Scott said.

"I just thought, 'Poor thing, he's lost.'"

He reported the sighting to police via 101, although the call handler initially had some trouble comprehending what he was reporting.

"I told her, 'There's a wallaby hopping up the street,' and she replied, 'The Australian animal, like a small kangaroo? Right, OK.'"

The wallaby has reportedly been sighted elsewhere in Liskeard.

A member of staff at the leisure center is also said to have spotted it at the weekend in the secondary school playing fields.

A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesperson said that the animal had disappeared by the time officers arrived.

They said: "We were called to a report of a wallaby seen on Dean Street, Liskeard, shortly before 6am today, August 24. Officers carried out an area search but did not locate the animal."