Sheffield goes marsupial mad as video of 'wild wallaby' - followed by kangaroo hoax - go viral

Sheffield went marsupial mad this weekend when a video of a wild wallaby - and a bogus report of a loose kangaroo - nearly broke the internet.
By David Walsh
Published 22nd Jan 2023, 18:10 GMT
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

James Ledger caused a sensation when he posted this video of what looks like a wallaby hopping through a frozen field in Mosborough on Saturday morning.

James, aged 40, is audibly stunned as he filmed the beast bounding in distinctive style across the landscape. He wrote: “Swear to god I've just seen a kangaroo in Mosborough!! What is this anyone???”

Hundreds commented and shared the post - the reaction best summed up as ‘wow!’ - and the footage went viral on the internet.

James Ledger caused a sensation when he posted a video of what looks like a wallaby hopping through a frozen field in Mosborough on Saturday morning.James Ledger caused a sensation when he posted a video of what looks like a wallaby hopping through a frozen field in Mosborough on Saturday morning.
James Ledger caused a sensation when he posted a video of what looks like a wallaby hopping through a frozen field in Mosborough on Saturday morning.

Then, just as things appeared to be calming down, reports of a second ‘roo on the loose came in. Only this time everyone jumped to the wrong conclusion.

Nicholas Holmes from Eckington, but who lives in Newark, Nottinghamshire, posted that his pet kangaroo had got out of his pen and escaped. ‘This is not a joke post’ he wrote and included an image of a kangaroo on a suburban street.

He added: ‘I call him Duncan and he seems to respond to his name. He was spotted earlier in this picture around 11am in Eckington PLEASE HELP’.

The Facebook message attracted more than 1,000 comments and has had more than 2,400 shares. But a quick search revealed the photo was taken from a report of a runaway wallaby in Gateshead in October last year. Hundreds fell for it, as well as update posts from the prankster with reports of sightings before ‘Duncan’ was reported safely home.

It certainly looks like a marsupial. Did one escape?It certainly looks like a marsupial. Did one escape?
It certainly looks like a marsupial. Did one escape?

Adrian Finney, on his Strange Britain page, followed both stories.

He wrote: 'So it might be a wild Wallaby after all as the Duncan story is a wind up… I tell you this is stranger than half the stories I tell and I’m currently researching a flying cat spotted in Sheffield in 1945'.

He added: 'The Peak Wallabies escaped from a private zoo back during World War II and no one is quite sure just how many there are nor where exactly in the Peaks they’re living. They popped up a few years back around Lowedges / Bradfield / Totley / Dore. Not what you expect to see, granted, but Mosborough isn’t really too far from their known area'.