A wayward wallaby disrupted downtown traffic by bounding across the Sydney Harbour Bridge early Tuesday morning, with police in hot pursuit.
The startled wallaby hopped across the bridge’s eight lanes of traffic an hour before sunrise then turned onto an expressway toward the Sydney Opera House.
A pursuing police car with flashing lights videoed the animal’s steady bounding before a police officer captured him and wrangled him into a horse float.
Veterinarian Larry Vogelnest said the wallaby was “quite distressed” but he gave it a tranquilliser before taking it to the wildlife hospital at nearby Taronga Zoo.
“I mean it’s unusual, obviously, to have a wallaby running around on the Harbour Bridge but there are more and more of these wallabies turning up in bushland, close to the city” Vogelnest explained.
Swamp wallabies, which are smaller marsupials than their kangaroo cousins, are common across eastern Australia, but are rarely seen in cities.
The adult male was captured without any apparent serious injury and is expected to be released back into the wild within days.