Editing Phantom kangaroo

{{Short description|Urban legend}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=November 2011}}

A '''phantom kangaroo''' is a report of [[kangaroo]]s, [[wallaby|wallabies]], or their accompanying footprints in areas where there is no native population.<ref name=clark1>{{cite book
  | last =  Clark
  | first =  Jerome
  | title =  Unexplained! 347 Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena
  | publisher =  Visible Ink Press
  | year =  1993
  | location =  Detroit
  | url =  https://archive.org/details/unexplained347st00clar
  | isbn =  0-8103-9436-7
  | url-access =  registration
  }}</ref> Some explanations put forth are escaped zoo or circus animals (as in the UK), or publicity stunts by local businesses using photographs from Australia. Others suggest outbreaks of such sightings are a form of [[mass psychogenic illness]].

==France==
A population of feral [[Red-necked wallaby|red-necked wallabies]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Des wallabies en liberté dans ma forêt de Rambouillet|url=http://passionnature78.canalblog.com/archives/2008/06/04/9442980.html|publisher=Passion Nature 78|access-date=4 June 2013}}</ref> often mis-identified as "kangourous", lives near the township of [[Émancé]], about {{convert|50|km|mi}} southwest of Paris.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/roos-are-driving-french-hopping-mad/2006/02/11/1139542445052.html |title=Roos are driving French hopping mad |publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=29 July 2009 |access-date=2010-03-02}}</ref> These wallabies are descended from a breeding population which escaped a zoological reserve in the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wild wallabies roam villages west of Paris|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-wild-wallabies-roam-villages-west-of-paris-2015-8|website=Business Insider |date=4 August 2015 |access-date=16 October 2016}}</ref>

==Japan==
Between 2002 and 2011, there was a series of phantom kangaroo sightings in the Mayama mountain district of [[Ōsaki, Miyagi]] city in [[Miyagi Prefecture]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/09/2840119.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120716071837/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/09/2840119.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 July 2012 |title=Phantom kangaroos spotted in Japan |publisher=ABC.net.au |date=9 March 2010 |access-date=2010-03-11}}</ref>

==New Zealand==
In 1831, after arriving in Australia, two sailors from the ''[[Sydney Packet]]'' reported that they had seen a "giant kangaroo", 30 feet (nine metres) tall, at a small cove in [[Dusky Sound]], South Island. From a small boat, they observed it standing near the treeline, and when they came too close the animal jumped into the water and swam away, leaving a wake extending from one end of the sound to the other.<ref name=Gosset1996>{{cite book|last=Gosset|first=Robyn|title=New Zealand Mysteries|publisher=The Bush Press of New Zealand|isbn=0-908608-73-X|pages=148–149}}</ref>

[[Kawau Island]] in the [[Hauraki Gulf]] has a colony of three species of wallabies descending from a deliberate introduction by [[George Edward Grey|Sir George Grey]], a 19th century [[Governor-General of New Zealand|Governor]].<ref>{{cite news|title=The Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, Part 2|date=3 March 2010|work=Inset to [[The New Zealand Herald]]|pages=12}}</ref>

New Zealand also has a wild population of wallabies in the [[Waimate District]] of South Island that were introduced for hunting in the late 19th century.

==United Kingdom==
Documented colonies of [[Red-necked wallaby|red-necked wallabies]] exist in the United Kingdom. A breeding colony established itself after breaking loose from a private zoo in Leek, [[Staffordshire]] in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A786477 |title=Derbyshire's Wallabies |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |access-date=2010-03-02}}</ref> Their population seems to have peaked in the 1970s, reaching numbers between 60 and 70. There were no confirmed sightings of the wallabies between 2000 and 2007, with some locals believing they must have died out. In 2009, newspapers reported wallaby sightings (including clear pictures) that made reference to sightings in 2008.<ref>{{Cite news|date=June 24, 2009|title=Hoax or reality? Wallaby captured on hiker’s camera|work=Macclesfield Express|url=https://www.macclesfield-live.co.uk/news/local-news/hoax-reality-wallaby-captured-hikers-2531576|access-date=June 15, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=March 29, 2009|title=Wallabies|url=http://www.roaches.org.uk/wallabies.html|access-date=June 15, 2020|website=The Roaches}}</ref> In recent years, BBC News has documented numerous wallaby sightings across the UK.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2019-12-23|title=Wallaby roaming wild in Somerset countryside captured|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-50890656|access-date=2021-02-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Would roo believe it? Wallaby spotted in Wales|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-52668340|access-date=2021-02-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Wallaby spotted crossing the road|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-46349957|access-date=2021-02-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Wallaby 'spotted near pub'|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-cornwall-39860558|access-date=2021-02-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Wallaby spotted hopping around streets|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-tees-55047977|access-date=2021-02-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Wallaby spotted on North Tyneside golf course|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-tyne-55222640|access-date=2021-02-05}}</ref>

[[Inchconnachan]], an island in [[Loch Lomond]] in Scotland, also has a population of wallabies after they were introduced by Lady Arran Colquhoun in the 1920s.<ref name="lln">{{cite web|title=Loch Lomond Islands: Inchconnachan|url=http://www.loch-lomond.net/theloch/inchconnachan.aspx|access-date=2013-05-03|publisher=Loch Lomond.net}}</ref>

Subsequent sightings have been made including a report of a Bennett’s wallaby filmed by zoologist Maurice Melzak in [[Highgate Cemetery]], Hampstead, London in October 2013,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/10396734/Wallaby-spotted-in-Highgate-Cemetery.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209093716/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/10396734/Wallaby-spotted-in-Highgate-Cemetery.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2015-02-09 |title=Wallaby spotted in Highgate Cemetery |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=2013-10-22 |access-date=2018-03-01}}</ref> and an albino wallaby in Northamptonshire in 2015.<ref>{{cite news|title=Wallaby damned! Rare albino mammal spotted hopping around in... Northamptonshire|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/11780450/Wallaby-damned-Rare-albino-mammal-spotted-hopping-around-in...-Northamptonshire.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150806002859/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/11780450/Wallaby-damned-Rare-albino-mammal-spotted-hopping-around-in...-Northamptonshire.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 August 2015|access-date=18 August 2015|work=The Telegraph|publisher=Telegraph Media Group Limited|date=3 August 2015}}</ref><br>

==United States==
In 1934, near [[South Pittsburg, Tennessee|South Pittsburg]], [[Tennessee]], an atypical kangaroo or "kangaroo-like beast" was reported by several witnesses over a five-day period,<ref name="Fort1984">{{cite book|last=Fort|first=Charles|title=The Info Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVklAQAAIAAJ|year=1984|publisher=International Fortean Organization|page=5}}</ref> and to have killed and partially devoured several animals, including ducks, geese, a German Shepherd and other dogs.<ref name=Clark1998>{{cite book|last=Clark|first=Jerome |title=Unexplained: Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences and Puzzling Physical Phenomena|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WsvTpBvUgrYC&pg=PA392|date=1 November 1998|publisher=Visible Ink Press|isbn=978-1-57859-266-1|pages=392–395}}</ref><ref name=Coleman2007>{{cite book|last=Coleman|first=Loren|title=Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation's Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2UlKsvrX60C&pg=PT149|date=24 April 2007|publisher=Pocket Books|isbn=978-1-4165-3944-5|pages=149–150}}</ref> Kangaroos are typically unaggressive and vegetarian.<ref name=Clark1998/> A witness described the animal as looking "like a large kangaroo, running and leaping across a field."<ref name=Clark1998/> A search party followed the animal's tracks to a mountainside cave where they stopped.<ref name=Coleman2007/> The animal was never found, and national news coverage drew widespread ridicule.<ref name=Clark1998/>

In 1974, in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], two Chicago police officers were called to investigate a report that a kangaroo was standing in someone's porch. After a brief search, the officers located the animal in an alleyway, but were unable to capture it.<ref name=clark1/> Over the next month, numerous kangaroo sightings were reported in [[Illinois]] and the neighbouring states of [[Indiana]] and [[Wisconsin]], with timing suggesting more than one animal if reports were accurate.<ref name=clark1/><ref name=Coleman2007/> A kangaroo was seen the next day by a paperboy, the next week in [[Forest Preserve District of Cook County#Region 3: North Cook County|Schiller Woods]], Illinois, and the week after that just outside [[Plano, Illinois|Plano]], Illinois, reported by a police officer who said it jumped eight feet from a field into the road. Thirty minutes later, a kangaroo was reported back in Chicago, then reported on the following three days in the surrounding countryside. A few days later, there were a rash of sightings in [[Indiana]]. Reports ceased about a month after the original story.<ref name=Coleman2007/>

In 1978, in [[Menomonee Falls]], [[Wisconsin]], two men photographed a large kangaroo beside the highway.<ref name=clark1/> Author [[Loren Coleman]], described as the "leading authority on North American kangaroo sightings", suggested the animal looked like a [[Bennett's wallaby]].

In 2013, in [[Oklahoma]], a kangaroo was reportedly recorded by hunters in a field.<ref name=mckinnon2013>{{cite news | title=Oklahoma hunter catches kangaroo on camera | date=24 December 2013 | last=McKinnon | first=Chris | work=News 9 | location=Oklahoma | publisher=World Now and KWTV | url=http://www.news9.com/story/24299464/oklahoma-hunter-catches-kangaroo-on-camera | access-date=25 December 2013}}</ref> The video was published on the website [[YouTube]], and prompted speculation that the animal may be a pet kangaroo who went missing in the state just over a year earlier.<ref name=mckinnon2013/><ref>{{cite news | title=The search for Lucy Sparkles | work=News 12 | last=McLinden | first=Scott | date=30 November 2012 | publisher=Gray Television, Inc. | url=http://www.kxii.com/news/headlines/The-search-for-Lucy-Sparkles-181641051.html | access-date=25 December 2013 }}</ref>

Also in 2013, ''[[The Ridgefield Press]]'' reported that a motorist in [[North Salem, New York]] captured on video what he thought was a kangaroo, and published the video on their website.<ref name=ridgefield2013>{{cite news | url=http://www.theridgefieldpress.com/19530/ridgefielder-spots-kangaroo-on-route-116/ | work=The Ridgefield Press | title=Ridgefielder spots 'kangaroo' on Route 116 | date=8 July 2013 | access-date=29 March 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331025622/http://www.theridgefieldpress.com/19530/ridgefielder-spots-kangaroo-on-route-116/ | archive-date=31 March 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The newspaper noted that escaped wallabies, smaller than kangaroos, were known in [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester County]], which encompasses North Salem.<ref name=ridgefield2013/> Several people in the county had kept wallabies as pets.<ref name=ridgefield2013/>

==See also==
* [[Forteana]]
* [[Phantom cat]]
* [[Vagrancy (biology)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phantom Kangaroo}}

[[Category:Mythological marsupials]]
[[Category:Macropods]]
[[Category:Cryptid footprints]]