A kangaroo that was on the free east of Toronto since final week was discovered and captured early Monday and is briefly being hosted on the Oshawa Zoo because it recovers, police in Durham Area mentioned.
Workers Sgt. Chris Boileau mentioned that officers on patrol noticed the lacking marsupial round 3 a.m. on a rural property in north Oshawa and had been “in a position to maintain eyes on it” for practically 4 hours.
Within the meantime, the pair had been in a position to get in contact with the kangaroo’s handlers and on their recommendation, “they really simply grabbed it by the tail,” Boileau mentioned.
The feminine kangaroo punched one of many officers within the face through the apprehension, Boileau added. Later, police clarified the officer had been struck, not essentially punched, by the kangaroo.
On Tuesday, police launched bodycam footage of the kangaroo takedown.
“It is one thing that he and his platoon mates will probably be remembering for the remainder of their careers,” he informed CBC Toronto.
After she settled down, police had been in a position to transport the kangaroo to the Oshawa Zoo, the place she underwent a medical examination.
Movies of the kangaroo operating alongside roads in Oshawa, about 60 kilometres east of Toronto, circulated on social media Friday morning.
WATCH | A dad driving his child to highschool captured this footage of the escaped kangaroo:
Runaway kangaroo shocks Toronto-area household
Paul Rellinger was taking his son to highschool once they got here throughout a kangaroo hopping alongside the facet of the highway in Oshawa, Ont.
Cameron Preyde, park supervisor and head keeper for the Oshawa Zoo and Enjoyable Farm, mentioned the animal was in a truck en path to a zoo in Quebec when it “jumped over” its handlers and escaped throughout what was imagined to be a short cease for a relaxation on the facility late Thursday.
The handlers tried to seek for the kangaroo, who’s about 4 years outdated and was being transported alongside her grownup offspring, but it surely was darkish.
A seek for the animal that included each consultants and volunteers began Friday morning and continued by way of the weekend. Friday was chilly and sloppy, with intervals of snow and sleet in some areas of the Larger Toronto Space, whereas Saturday and Sunday had been moist however noticed above-zero daytime temperatures.
There have been a number of unconfirmed sightings, however the search group was finally unable to trace it down.
‘Very industrious’ animals
Preyde mentioned he awoke Monday to “about 50 missed calls” and that it was an amazing reduction that the animal was captured safely. He gave her a verify up and fed her “plenty of meals,” and he says she is drained however in good well being.
The kangaroo was born and raised in captivity, Preyde mentioned.
“I feel she would have been fairly scared,” he informed CBC Toronto. “That is an animal … that has been used to having people round caring for her.”
That mentioned, wild kangaroos are “very industrious” animals that discover meals and water wherever they will within the harsh setting of the Australian outback, and Preyde mentioned her pure instincts doubtless served her effectively whereas on the free.
The kangaroo will keep on the Oshawa Zoo till she’s deemed able to proceed her journey.
“We will maintain her right here for slightly whereas longer, let her relaxation up and ensure she is protected,” Preyde mentioned.
Questions on escape
Workers from the Toronto Zoo had been among the many searchers, CEO Dolf DeJong mentioned Monday.
“There was a protracted interval of time the place we weren’t actually certain concerning the standing of this kangaroo,” he informed CBC Radio’s Metro Morning.
DeJong mentioned kangaroos choose extensive open areas and, right here in Ontario, wish to eat wild grapes and willow. The kangaroo discovered a rural setting the place it was in a position to “hunker down and keep away from potential predator encounters” with native animals like coyotes.
DeJong mentioned there are lingering questions on the way it was in a position to escape its handlers within the first place.
“In a state of affairs like this, there are inquiries to be requested about secondary perimeter fences and what kind of care was happening, as a result of this explicit animal should not have been in that place,” he mentioned.
Province to research how animal obtained away
Ontario’s solicitor common, in the meantime, mentioned the province will examine the kangaroo’s escape.
Michael Kerzner mentioned it is essential to look into how the kangaroo obtained away.
“We will look into precisely what transpired with all of the circumstances.”
Michele Hamers, the wildlife marketing campaign supervisor for the advocacy group World Animal Safety Canada, mentioned Monday she’s glad the province is investigating and hopes “one thing good comes out of it.”
Hamers mentioned the kangaroo escape highlights what she known as main gaps in legal guidelines and rules round captive wildlife.
“There are such a lot of excellent questions and this may proceed to occur till we’ve higher rules within the province,” she mentioned in a cellphone interview.
She mentioned zoos in Ontario at the moment usually are not required to have a licence to show unique animals, and it isn’t obligatory for them to observe an official protocol on how animals are transported throughout the province and nation.
“A kangaroo escaped, subsequent time it might be a lion, who is aware of, as a result of there is no oversight and no monitoring of this commerce in any respect,” she mentioned.
“I do know zoo homeowners which have transported crocodiles at the back of their automotive.”
She mentioned stricter laws may guarantee zoos meet the very best customary of animal welfare and public well being and security.
“It is actually time for the federal government to step up and to unravel this as soon as and for all,” she mentioned.
