A WALLABY that had escaped from an animal centre in Cork has been found safe and well in Kilworth.
Locals were left scratching their eyes as the marsupial known as ‘Dora the Explorer’ was spotted hopping down rural roads over the last few days.
Andrew Boyle of the Araglin Animal Centre told the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s Red FM that he was delighted and relieved to be reunited with the three-year-old wallaby.
Andrew was on holiday and had left the centre in the care of a third party when Dora decided to have a holiday of her own.
“With the animals it is extremely difficult for us to get away. Usually when you are away something goes wrong and this time it was the wallaby got out. We have seven of them. Dora got out.
“We arrived home to that. After she was spotted on Friday morning there was lots of contact but there were no sightings at all yesterday.
“This morning I got a phone call at 6am from Eoin Hislop.
“He was the hero of the day. He spotted her in Kilworth village.
Andrew Boyle with Dora the Wallaby“She was out on the road. When we got there she had gone into a front garden. I pulled in to the front of the garden, blocking the driveway. There were a few bushes in the driveway.
“I got down on my hands and knees looking under the bush. My wife managed to grab her by the tail and we got her home safe.”
Mr Boyle said he was surprised that Dora had stuck to the roads, expecting her instead to disappear into the forests nearby.
“It was great for me because if she had gone into the forestry we may never have seen her again. My worry would be that she would have got stressed or injured but we got her back in one piece without a scratch on her,” he added.
