Reward offered in search for fugitive wallaby in northwest Indiana

A reward has been offered in the search for a fugitive wallaby in northwest Indiana.

The 3-foot-tall wallaby was part of a traveling petting zoo at a pumpkin patch in Lowell, Indiana, when it broke free, according to Facebook posts by its owner and a local veterinarian.

The Northwest Indiana Times first reported the escape.

Sherri Terborg Stegenga posted a video of the wallaby on the lam.

“We were at the shop next door and my husband was the first to see it,” Stegenga told the Chicago Sun-Times in a Facebook message. “I thought it was a deer until it started hopping.”

Dan Wallen, the owner of the petting zoo, posted, “So I come outside and to my surprise my wallaby is missing!!”

The veterinarian’s post said the wallaby could be near Route 2 and Route 55 in Lowell. A reward was offered for information leading to the wallaby’s safe return to its owner.

Wallabies are members of the kangaroo family, and are mostly found in Australia and New Zealand, according to National Geographic. The vegetarian animals can reach 6 feet tall, but are generally small or medium-sized animals.

Despite their size, wallabies can pack a kick in a tussle. They use their legs to reach high running speeds, but can also use them to deliver powerful kicks.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the missing wallaby was asked to call the Leininger Veterinary Clinic at (219) 696-6300.