A wandering wallaby stuns walker in stunning Somerset

By Jill Dando News

As the near 1 million people of Somerset know, it is one of the best places in the world – think King Alfred, Cheddar and Weston-super-Mare. Now even a wallaby from Australia has been visiting the county.

One of the cute animals has been spotted by a dog walker hopping across a field in the Mendip Hills.

Ant Lyons was walking his dog towards Beacon Batch at around 7am on 7 June when he spotted what appeared to be a wallaby on Blackdown.

Ant has shared the discovery in the hope of finding where the animal – which usually calls Australia home – has escaped from. 

He said it “bounded straight past” him after he put his dogs on their leads.

At first he thought it was a kangaroo but, as he inched closer, it became clear that it was a wallaby. Ant said he was around 30ft from the animal when he took the picture of it.

Ant Lyons said: “It was kind of a shock. I just want to find out if it had escaped from somewhere so we can try and get it safe. 

“I live in Burrington Combe and was heading towards Beacon Batch on my dog walk at around 7am this morning.

“I saw something a distance away and at first thought it was a kangaroo. I got closer and the outline became clearer.

“I got around 30ft away and it became obvious what it was. I put my dogs on their leads and it bounded straight past us.”

Ant added that he had heard rumours that a wallaby has escaped from Cheddar, but this is yet to be confirmed.

It is not the first time a wallaby has been spotted hopping in and around Somerset. 

In 2018, the A396 near Exmoor was blocked after police received reports of a “kangaroo or wallaby” in the road.

After police arrived, the wallaby jumped into a nearby field. Police soon left the scene after losing sight of the animal.

A year later, staff from Watchet’s Tropiquaria Zoo helped capture a wallaby which had been spotted wandering around an area near Taunton. 

It had been seen hopping around for months before it was caught after concerns for its safety were raised.

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