Pet wallaby safely located after escaping backyard in suburban Monee – NBC Chicago

The search for a wallaby pet named Rupert that went missing from a Monee yard on Tuesday is over, according to his owner.

Rupert was found just a few blocks away from his south suburban home in a neighbor’s garage and was “completely fine,” Rupert’s owner, Josie Hange said Saturday.

“Oh my god, I was so relieved. He had no injuries, no bugs, no nothing,” Hange said.

Although wallabies are skittish by nature and fast runners, Hange said she managed to catch him with her own hands around 5 p.m. on Saturday.

The 2-foot-tall, 45-pound wallaby named Rupert had escaped from his owner’s backyard earlier this week.

“It’s crazy, you turn your head for a second and boom. It can happen with a dog, it can happen with a cat,” she said.

Wallabies, native to Australia and Papua New Guinea, can be legally owned in Illinois, and Hange, who has a license for Rupert, acquired him as a baby, and he now behaves like any other house pet, she said.