Loose wallaby captured after five days in Chicago suburb

Sept. 18 (UPI) -- A wallaby on the loose in a south suburb of Chicago for several days was safely reunited with his owner.

Josie Hange said Rupert the wallaby, who escaped from her family's Monee home Tuesday, was caught on camera Friday outside nearby resident Ken Zeilstra's home.

"All of sudden I looked out the window and there he was," Zeilstra told WLS-TV. "We don't see things like that out here. It doesn't happen."

Hange said the footage gave her and volunteer searchers, including members of animal rescue group Tinley Park PAWS, an idea of where to look, and they were able to track Rupert's movements over the course of the next 24 hours.

Hange said she caught up with Rupert Saturday evening and was able to wrangle him into a neighbor's garage.

"I think that's the most relief I've ever felt," Hange told Patch. "We lose people to death, we lose people to weird circumstances. When it comes to animals -- I know not everyone thinks the same way, but they become part of your family. You grow attached to them, you raise them. He is my baby. I have children, but he is my baby as well."

Hange said Rupert is now safe at home and recovering from his ordeal. She said the wallaby is not injured but he appears to have lost some weight and is exhausted.