BRUSSELS: Two runaway wallabies have sparked a cross-border chase in Belgium and France, with police and firefighters hot on the heels of the fast-hopping marsupials.

Firemen captured one of the fugitives on Tuesday near the northern French city of Lille — days after the pair broke out of their enclosure in the border town of Mouscron, Belgium. But its accomplice was still unaccounted for.

The escape took place while their owner was on holiday overseas and had entrusted the care of the animals to a neighbour, said Belgian police. “We are not combing the area to find it, it could be anywhere,” a Mouscron police spokeswoman said.

“We are mainly waiting for a local resident who might spot him to report his location”. The bouncing duo went on the loose over the weekend and sightings soon spread across the region.

Footage of the animals hopping around urban areas, at times scared by passing motorists, went viral on social media. “Thank you for doing everything you can to find these poor animals,” an internet user commented on the Mouscron police Facebook page.

The fire department in France’s Nord district mused that the marsupials had “suddenly decided to explore the world around them, far from the Australian plains, closer to the urban jungle”.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2025