Wallaby spotted hopping around Highgate Cemetery in London

Visitors to Highgate West Cemetery in north London have spotted a wallaby hopping between the graves. Visitor and volunteer coordinator Melanie Wynyard said: “To spot a wallaby in London is quite strange.



“It’s quite extraordinary and so unexpected,” she said. “The West Cemetery is quite secure so it’s a mystery how he got in there but now he’s in, it’s quite a good place to be as he won’t be crossing the roads.”


YouTube link.

Highgate zoologist Maurice Melzak, who gives ecology advice to Highgate Cemetery, was one of two visitors who filmed the wallaby. He thinks it is a Bennett’s wallaby, a species known to be living in the wild in small colonies across the UK.


YouTube link.

Mr Melzak said: “Highgate Cemetery is a mysterious and wonderful place. It already has many non-native species, including all sorts of insects and arachnids, grey squirrels, ring-necked parakeets and the occasional muntjak deer. So maybe the odd wallaby isn’t such a bizarre notion?”