Rascally Wallaby Evades Capture, Returns To Montrose Home On His Own

MONTROSE COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - This isn't a call they train you for at the academy.

Members of the Montrose County Sheriff's Office and Colorado State Patrol responded to a report of a loose animal Thursday evening.

It was a wallaby.

No kidding.

And, wouldn't you know it? Animal control officers were off-duty.

It had all the ingredients of a learning experience, according to Montrose County's Erika Story.

"To see something like a kangaroo hopping around in Colorado is not what you'd expect. We're used to cows and things like that."

In a Facebook post about the incident, MCSO provided a the basics - location, date, time, and approximate nature of the call. Typical police blotter material, really.

But no more. The department then left the rest of the affair's description to a pair of citizens.

They are identified as local residents Casey and David Hunt.

"Umm, what is that?" they are alleged to have asked one another when they drove up on the animal hopping alongside the road.

They called Montrose County dispatch, which made for an interesting conversation, Casey Hunt recalled.

"How can we help you?"

"So, um, there's a loose kangaroo. Well, it's a wallaby."

"I'm sorry?"

"No, I know it's crazy and I promise we're not lying. Or on drugs. But there's a loose wallaby."

"Ok, well that's just not something we get everyday."

Concerned about traffic safety, two deputies and a state trooper showed up. They joined the three citizens at a farm property where the wallaby came to rest - away from the road, thankfully.

As darkness fell, the wallaby's owner arrived.

And a name was discovered: Zach.

"Not Wally. Or Jack," Casey Hunt recounted. "It's Ezachary!"

Ezachary evaded his owner's grasp and, to the amazement of the people following him, made his own way home.

"All the way back to his pen," Casey Hunt stated, "where he's tucked in safe and sound for the night."

"As for David and I, we got our first ride in the back of a cop car tonight. Mom would be so proud."

Montrose County's Story said several residents reacted to the adventure with relief.

"Some people were laughing, 'See, I'm not crazy!'" she said. "Apparently there were some sightings in the past."