The case of the wallaby in the forest of Mormal, in Avesnois, is experiencing a rebound. If you haven’t followed the first episode, here is a summary: Monday, August 22, Bonnie, a wallaby seen the day before by a couple of motorists, is found dead. She had fled from her enclosure a week earlier, a few miles away.
The owner had hidden the disappearance of the second wallaby
This Monday, we learn that it was not a single wallaby but a couple of wallabies that had escaped two weeks ago. The second, a male by the name of Django, was seen this Monday morning, around 9 a.m., by a hiker. He had fled through the same hole in the paddock, caused by the drought.
– Mormal Heritage
“We tried to stifle the affair a little to avoid malicious messages on social networks”, explains Hugo, the owner, who had received hundreds of messages following the first disappearance. But he assures that the authorities were notified at the time of the disappearanceespecially the police.
Put it to sleep to better capture it
The owner, who owns his home in Jolimetz, other exotic animals like deer and alpacas wants to be reassuring. “We had a check from the departmental population protection directorate, which checked the facilities and animal welfare. The result of this check is that our facilities are perfect, our animals are happy.”
This Monday morning, when the owner arrived at the place where Django was found, he tried, with the help of the Office National des Forêts to catch it with a net but the animal is very lively and disappears. He has not been seen since Monday morning. An operation with stun guns is planned to try to put him to sleep.
The owner could not recover the body of the first wallaby
On his side, the Mormal Patrimoine association is annoyed by the owner’s lack of communication. “We are unhappy with the attitude of the owners because they tried to hide from us that two wallabies had escaped at the same time. They endangered the wallabies”explains Jean-François Hogne, member of the association.
The case does not stop there since the owner wonders about the distances traveled by his two wallabies. Here, Django was spotted a few hundred yards from his enclosure, while Bonnie was found dead several miles away. His body was found by the Mormal Patrimoine association, photos were taken and the precise location was reported to the owner. But the latter still has not found the body. “We come to wonder if it’s ours, we have no proof!”
If you see the wallaby, it is advisable to contact the Landrecies gendarmerie on 03 27 84 70 50.