Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Fugitive Canadian kangaroo found and returned home

On foot, horseback and in cars, people spread out across the western edge of St-Lazare, Quebec, on Monday to search for a fugitive kangaroo.



Missing since Sunday evening, the kangaroo was found at around 5:30pm, after local residents spent the day searching the woods. Scared by a loud truck passing nearby on Sunday, the one-year-old, two-and-a-half-foot-tall red kangaroo named Mirka probably escaped through an open gate, farm owner Luc Lefebvre said. She was found about a kilometre from the farm, he said.

Lefebvre had said he expected Mirka would find her way back to a populated area or follow the first person she met, because she is not used to being without people. Lefebvre has been training Mirka to work as a therapy animal for children for about three months, as part of his zootherapy business, Murmurs d’animaux. The kangaroo, who is not yet fully grown, came to Lefebvre’s property from a zoo in Ontario.


YouTube link.

Mirka is friendly and accustomed to people, and was specifically chosen for the programme as an animal who will work well with children. “Contrary to popular belief, kangaroos are very, very docile creatures,” he said. The Forest Hill Senior high school in St-Lazare had sent an email on Monday afternoon advising students and parents that the kangaroo was “inoffensive,” and that residents should contact Lefebvre if they spotted her.

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