‘Roo on the loose’: Kangaroo captured after brief escape in southwestern Ontario

This kangaroo’s short vacation was a “hopportunity” of a lifetime.

Southwestern Ontario residents were shocked to come across a kangaroo standing on the roadway in Chatham-Kent that police said made a daring escape from the local aviaries and “went on a short-lived adventure” on Tuesday.

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) were sent a video of a kangaroo on Douglas Line, urging citizens “not to approach if located.”

A spokesperson with Chatham-Kent police later playfully confirmed that members of the public “were not hallucinating if they spotted a kangaroo hopping around Reeder’s Line in Howard Township yesterday.”

“Thankfully, staff members quickly rounded up the little kangaroo and returned it safely to Greenview Aviaries,” the police spokesperson wrote in a news release.

OPP West Region said that one person is facing public mischief charges for reporting the kangaroo sighting to Lambton OPP officers, adding that authorities are “looking into the accuracy of the complainant’s statement.”

“No charges have been laid at this time, but they are being considered,” an OPP spokesperson told CityNews. “Causing officers to enter into an investigation which knowingly did not occur is the offence of public mischief.”

One Ridgetown, Ont., resident took to Facebook to share her photos of the wanted marsupial wandering around the side of the roadway.

“So, I was driving along, thought I saw a deer… then realized… deer don’t have little arms, lol. (Not a great day for a Kangaroo to escape from the zoo.),” the photo caption reads on Facebook.

Police said the kangaroo was not injured.

This sighting comes after a highly-publicized incident in late November involving a kangaroo escaping its handler and making a hop for it in Oshawa. The animal was in transit to Quebec when its delivery driver stopped at the Oshawa Zoo on Nov. 30 to let them “stretch their legs,” where the one kangaroo managed to flee.

The marsupial was safely located a few days later, on Dec. 4.

In the wake of the escaped but later rescued kangaroo, the Toronto Zoo’s CEO raised issues about “roadside zoos,” saying that any runaway kangaroos will immediately be in danger in the wild due to Ontario’s climate and risk to public safety.