We all know wallabies are not native to the UK , but as I know wallabies have been living wild in the UK for decades , since the 50's?
How widespread are they? We went on the Tiggywinkles website the other night & they had a few injured ones in. I only thought that they were in Derbyshire so was quite amazed to see that they were being taken in at a rescue centre in Bucks. I wonder also how many other animals not native to Britain are finding a foothold? Also is this a good thing or a bad thing????
Kingfisher EGS's are not counted in this !!!!!!!LOL!!:lol::lol::lol:

This post was last modified: 16-08-2007 08:17 PM by tibbar.

I did some research on this, and it seems that there are around 50 reported wallaby sightings, mostly in the south of England. Perhaps Xeract has one living in his garden right now!

I do have to say that in general I am not much in favour of non-native species being introduced into places where they have not existed before. The Eastern Grey Squirrel (aka, EGS) is just one example of a good idea gone bad.

I know that when I see the thread about Sparrows and Starlings being afraid to breed--all I can say is, you should visit the US, where Starlings blacken the skies because there are so many of them. All Starlings found in the US are descended from just 100 birds, introduced in 1890. In fact, they originally did not 'take' in Washington State, and were introduced TWICE!

I've read that there have been many sighting of 'big cats' in the UK, either escapees or thefts from zoos. Somehow I don't find it reassuring to know that a leopard may be lurking down at the local pub, ready to carry off some unsuspecting pub goer !

Kingfisher

This post was last modified: 18-08-2007 04:01 PM by Kingfisher.

Red Necked Wallabies were originally introduced even earlier than the fifties, areound the 1930-40's I think. As Kingfisher says they are mainly found in the South and there are reportedly several colonies that are self sustaining but I'm not sure anyone knows exactly how many there are in the UK in total.

In gerneral it's very risky introducing new species, but as the wallabies mainly feed on grasses and bracken I don't think they are going to be competing with many native animals for food. I could be wrong of course!

Does anyone know why they were introduced? Zoo escapees? Meat animal? Fur/hide animal?

I have to say, there's probably not much competing with them for bracken.

Kingfisher

There certainly used to be a colony in the Peak District, living on the moors not far from my home town of Buxton - I have pictures to prove it. They have sadly died out I think. They were once part of a private collection, but were allowed to go free when feeding them became too difficult - around the war years I believe. There is another colony around Chessington Zoo, if my memory serves me well, and a friend of mine discovered some on an island in Loch Lomond.

One of my enjoyable outings in the past was to the area of Lud's Church and Castle Rocks near to the Roaches in the PD. We would scout around to see if we could spot the wallabies - which we did on several occasions. One time, I had seen a fox lying in the sun and crept round to try and get a photo. Suddenly I came upon a group of wallabies, including some young ones. I only had a 500mm lens with me, so had to make do with a portait shot of one individual. This was over 20 years ago and as a result of road kills and more and more disturbance from people using the area for recreation, they are no longer there.

That's an interesting question, now that you've raised it, wild canon. How tolerant are wallabies to disturbance? Most of what are considered 'nuisance' species are extremely adaptable to human presence.

Is the worry more that the wallabies are dying off due to disturbance, or are they increasing to the point of being a nuisance? The wallabies don't seem to be causing much damage to the habitat they occupy, but do seem to bring joy to those who spot them.

Kingfisher

Wallabies are very shy and avoid any sort of human contact whenever they can, which must make it more difficult for them especially in the South where the areas of countryside that people don't visit must be very small.

I don't think wallabies are very adaptable to human presence, they are very shy from what I have read and heard. This may not be a problem though, as when there was a discussion on wild boar in the UK we discovered that although they were very timid around humans, they had found ways of avoiding them such as becoming nocturnal.

Whether wallabies are this flexible when it comes to how they live I don't know, but I suppose it is possible.

After a bit of researching on the internet, it seems there is still a wallaby colony in the peak district and at one stage had around 50 animals in it that started from an inital 5 that were released from a private zoo at in the 1930's. The interesting thing is that there were also three Yak and one Nilgai antelope were released at the same time. I don't know how the Yak got on or whether there are still any around, I would assume that the antelope died fairly quickly though as there have been no reports on it since.

I would be interested to know where you found your information, because I live less then 10 K from the Roaches and I'm pretty sure that they have died out, but it would be great to find that they're still surviving.

As you say, the colony started from 5 individuals, but my information is that they escaped around 1939/40.

I've been looking, without success, for a transparency I have of a wallaby from the Roaches, taken probably in the early 1980s. Instead, I've scanned one of the postcards I had made from the slide, sorry about the quality.

This post was last modified: 24-08-2007 08:33 PM by wild canon.

That is cute.. OK not native but still cute...

There were wallabies around the Loch Lomond area of Scotland that had escaped from a wildlife park many years ago, but I don't know if they thrived or died out?

I have discovered that if I want to have my own Bennet's wallaby I can drive just about 50 miles away and purchase a darling female one for only $1600 (approximately £800).

"This little girl is ready for a new home, she's extreamly sweet, very healthy has been to the vet twice for check ups and weigh ins. She's down to two hand feedings a day. VERY SWEET BABY! She's runs around inside the house, she sleeps in bed with me and my boyfriend and is completely ready to be adopted out into a loving qualified home. Would prefur to place locally in Washington state willing to meet potential buyers as far as Oregon or eastern Washington. May be willing to ship to the RIGHT home - must have lots of love and time to devote to her. I want her to be in a place where she will continue to get the care and affection she has here. Her name is Cloey. Contact me threw e-mail for my phone number if you'd love to come see her. Parents on sight, her mom and dad where both hand raised aswell, she is from a long line of captive bred parents. Purchase includes carrying pouch, sleeping pouch, a starter supply of wombaroo for hand feeding, a bag of Mazuri Macropod diet, 3 special marsupial feeding nipples, a bottle a bottle brush and a care sheet. ".

What do the rest of you think?

Kingfisher

As I am as mad as a 'hatter' I would be up for that as would Skip I presume, as he was brought up with them in Oz. On being sensible I have to admit it is a lot unusual (notice I didn't say 'a bit unusual') you don't see wallabies for sale every day of the week. In Cyprus we saw ostriches & ostrich eggs for sale ?? Massive omelette comes to mind!!!

This post was last modified: 25-08-2007 05:33 PM by tibbar.