CONEY ISLAND, Brooklyn (PIX11) — Authorities rescued a wallaby from the Coney Island Boardwalk Friday night, police said.
The NYPD responded to reports of a person with a wallaby on the boardwalk and took the animal, police said. The individual was given a summons for possession of a wild marsupial, police said.
The wallaby was then sent to the Animal Care Center of New York, according to the NYPD.
Earlier this month, a person was spotted with a wallaby in Washington Square Park in Manhattan and on the subway, according to John Di Leonardo, executive director at Humane Long Island. The organization worked with the NYPD Animal Cruelty Investigations Squad to rescue the animal after it was spotted in Coney Island.
The wallaby is now recovering at Save The Animals Rescue (STAR) Foundation on Long Island, Di Leonardo said Monday.
“Wallabies are wild animals. They are not pets and they are not props. This young joey belongs with his mother in the wilds of Australia, not being exploited for money in a cramped bag on the Coney Island boardwalk,” he said.
Wallabies are small, pouched marsupials that belong to a small group of animals called macropods, mostly found in Australia and New Guinea, according to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment.
Exploiting wallabies and other exotic animals is illegal in New York City and in parts of Long Island, according to Humane Long Island.
Mira Wassef is a digital reporter who has covered news and sports in the New York City area for more than a decade. She joined PIX11 News in 2022. See more of her work here.
