Wandering wallaby wrangled near Walmart in Williamstown
By Katherine Scott, Trish Hartman, and Brandon Longo and Cheyenne Corin
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WILLIAMSTOWN, New Jersey (WPVI) — It’s a happy ending for Rex, the wandering wallaby from Williamstown, New Jersey.
Owners of Lots of Love Farm said the 3-year-old wallaby was found Tuesday night near the Walmart where he was last spotted.
“If this just didn’t become the best night ever! With the help of some really cool kids and a really cool dad. We caught Rex at the Walmart!! He is home safe and sound! Thank you, everyone, you’re all amazing. He must really like Walmart,” said Lots of Love Farm in a Facebook post.
Caitlyn Evangelista and her mother, Michelle, were out looking for Rex when they spotted something moving near a retention pond.
“I screamed like, ‘Stop, I think I see it.’ And then, you know, I tried to get a closer look, and I saw that you know, it was a wallaby,” she recalled. “I was just like, I couldn’t believe it. Like, there’s no way we just found this thing. It’s been lost for hours.”
They immediately called the farm and, in the meantime, a group of young men pulled up to help.
“They were like, ‘Were you out looking for the wallaby?’ and we’re like, ‘Yeah, he’s right here.’ They had a net in their car, but the owner was afraid that the wallaby would get scared, so the owner got food out of his pocket,” said Michelle Evangelista. “They were able to catch it by its tail and hold onto it.”
Klarissa Harper of Franklinville was among the shoppers who saw Rex on Monday in the Walmart parking lot.
“I was just picking up milk for my little brother. My mom sent me here,” Harper said. “And I’m leaving the parking lot, and I look over, and something’s hopping in front of my car.”
Harper said she immediately grabbed her phone, thinking she must be seeing things. “I couldn’t contain my excitement,” she said
Ron Layden owns Lots of Love Farm, which is a petting zoo and animal sanctuary located about a half-mile away from the Walmart. He said Rex had been moved to a different enclosure because of the cold, but “the cage didn’t get all the way shut.”
The Evangelistas are relieved the wallaby is back home safe and sound.
“I mean, everyone in town has been out, you know, looking for it and has been concerned,” said Michelle. “I’m just so happy that we were able to spot it.”
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