Wallaby sighting in Cambridge causing concern

Wallabies,  an Australian pest, could  cause millions of dollars of damage to farmland and a new indication there’s one near Cambridge is causing concern.

How it got there, no one is sure, but it might have had human help.  

Waikato senior biosecurity officer Dave Byers told Afternoons a local resident who has also lived in Tasmania (where wallabies are abundant) was certain about spotting one on the side of a road. 

Specially trained dogs from the Ministry of Primary Industries were taken to the area and twice indicated they could detect a wallaby had been there. 

It was likely to be a single animal which was a long way from where they were usually found on the other side of the Kaimai Ranges. 

“It’s likely to be an escaped pet or one someone has intentionally liberated over there.”

Wallabies were a pest because they ate pasture needed by other animals and they damaged the understory of native forests, eating seedlings. 

“They’re not too selective about what they eat, and they eat things down very low to the ground.”

Wallabies had often been kept as pets in the past but people were more aware now they shouldn’t.  

One was not too much of a threat to the environment but the area would continue to be monitored, Byers said. 

“The ideal would be that we would be able to locate it and shoot it on sight and that will be problem solved.” 

Wallabies are prominent in South Canterbury in the South Island while in the North Island the Bay of Plenty is their stronghold, especially around the lakes and the Whakarewarewa Forest. 

MPI, Department of Conservation and the Waikato Regional Council were working together to try and prevent them taking hold in Waikato. 

Anyone who spotted one should report it, Byers said. People could Google ‘Report a wallaby’ and use the link to provide details of the sighting.