Visiting Kangaroo Breaks Loose in Staten Island

2 minute read

A kangaroo visiting New York City from out of town escaped from his yard and hopped onto a neighbor’s property during a 10-15 minute joyride Saturday morning, police say.

“It was jumping around, enjoying the freedom and the fun,” Urim Osmani, who saw the kangaroo around the auto-shop he owns, told the New York Daily News. “We didn’t know what it was. We thought it was a deer. When it came closer, we saw it was a kangaroo. We thought it disappeared from a zoo or something.”

The 4-ft. kangaroo, named Buster, was being kept in a yard with a 6-ft. fence when he reportedly managed to open a door and bounced away. Police found the animal in a yard after a neighbor made a 911 call and were ready to apprehend him when Buster’s owner showed up and collected him.

The kangaroo’s owner was visiting Staten Island from upstate New York, where it is apparently total cool to keep massive marsupials as pets. “It looks like it’s legal to possess a kangaroo where this man is from,” a police source told the Daily News, though the ASPCA was notified. “Since he was visiting the area and was returning home today, there was no violation.”

Watch a video of the kangaroo’s stroll below:

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Write to Nolan Feeney at nolan.feeney@time.com