Kangaroo ends romp through French countryside

Wildlife authorities have finally caught up with a kangaroo that has spent the past 10 days hopping around the French countryside.

Published: 2:32PM BST 07 Aug 2009

The four-foot tall marsupial had been spotted bouncing around a children's park and bounding through corn fields.

Wildlife authorities cornered the Kangaroo, named Will, in the village of Juillac-le-Coq late on Wednesday, using a tranquilliser dart gun to subdue the animal in order to capture it, the owner said.

It remains unclear how the kangaroo managed to escape its pen in the first place.

Will's owner, who lives in the nearby village of Gente, was on holiday when the kangaroo went off on his adventure.

This is not the first time kangaroos have been on the loose in the south-west of France.

In March, vandals set loose 15 kangaroos from an Australian theme park in Carcassonne, sparking a major search operation.

Firefighters, police and gendarmes were mobilised to track down the animals as they bounded through the woods.

The theme park, which houses Australian animals alongside exhibits on Aboriginal culture and gold-digging, made French headlines last October when a pack of hunting dogs attacked and killed 44 kangaroos.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5988935/Kangaroo-ends-romp-through-French-countryside.html