A dog walker got an early morning surprise after spotting an exotic animal bouncing around a local field in the Mendip Hills. Ant Lyons was heading towards Beacon Batch at around 7am today (June 7) when he spotted what appears to be a wallaby on Blackdown.
Ant shared the discovery with Bristol Live in the hope of finding where the animal - which usually calls Australia home - has escaped from. He said it "bounded straight past" him after he put his dogs on their leads.
At first he thought it was a kangaroo but, as he inched closer, it became clear that it was a wallaby. Ant said he was around 30ft from the animal when he took the picture of it.
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Ant Lyons said: "It was kind of a shock. I just want to find out if it had escaped from somewhere so we can try and get it safe. I live in Burrington Combe and was heading towards Beacon Batch on my dog walk at around 7am this morning.
"I saw something a distance away and at first thought it was a kangaroo. I got closer and the outline became clearer.
"I got around 30ft away and it became obvious what it was. I put my dogs on their leads and it bounded straight past us."
Ant added that he heard rumours a wallaby has escaped from Cheddar. However, this is yet to be confirmed.
It is not the first time a wallaby has been spotted hopping in and around Somerset. In 2018, the A396 near Exmoor was blocked after police received reports of a "kangaroo or wallaby" in the road.
After police arrived, the wallaby jumped into a nearby field. Police soon left the scene after losing sight of the animal.
A year later, staff from Watchet's Tropiquaria Zoo helped capture a wallaby which had been spotted wandering around an area near Taunton. It had been seen hopping around for months before it was caught after concerns for its safety were raised.
