A Sydney ferry picked up an unexpected passenger Thursday after crew members rescued a distressed wallaby that had gone for a swim in the harbor.
Staff on the Manly fast ferry, which takes passengers between Circular Quay in Sydney Harbour and the suburb of Manly ― picked up the wallaby after in the early evening after passengers spotted it seemingly struggling about 160 feet off the shore at Manly.
Concerned passengers threw down an orange life ring before crew on the ferry lowered ropes to lasso the wallaby and bring it aboard.
Video footage posted to social media on Thursday night showed the wallaby swimming strongly in the water far offshore.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the wallaby may have been chased into the water by a dog.
Onlookers praised the work of the ferry crew.
“As one of the animal rescuers who assisted in the transfer of the wallaby a BIG THANKS to your Manly Fast Ferry workers who managed to retrieve the Wallaby and contained it until we could get on-board and transfer it,” one person wrte on the Manly Fast Ferry’s Facebook page.
“The wallaby was checked by a vet and taken to the Sydney Wildlife Enclosure at Terry Hills where it is recuperating, Unfortunately wallabies are very susceptible to stress and only time will tell how well it will do, again thanks to your fantastic guys who did everything right!”
It’s not the first wallaby to get into trouble for being where it wasn’t supposed to be. Police had to alter traffic conditions on the Sydney Harbour Bridge last month when a wallaby bounded down the busy thoroughfare, hopping several miles from its northern Sydney home into the middle of the city itself before being captured and safely removed.