Dora the Explorer, a wallaby who escaped from an animal centre in Cork, has been found safe and well in Kilworth after her little "holiday" in the county over recent days.
Andrew Boyle of Araglin Animal Centre told Red FM that they were delighted to be reunited with the three-year-old marsupial.
Andrew was away on his first holiday in years when the wallaby went missing. A third party was looking after the centre.
"With the animals it is extremely difficult for us to get away. Usually when you are away something goes wrong and this time it was the wallaby got out. We have seven of them. Dora got out.
"We arrived home to that. After she was spotted on Friday morning there was lots of contact but there was no sightings at all yesterday. This morning I got a phone call at 6am from Eoin Hislop.
"He was the hero of the day. He spotted her in Kilworth village.
"She was out on the road. When we got there she had gone into a front garden. I pulled in to the front of the garden blocking the driveway. There were a few bushes in the driveway.
I got down on my hands and knees looking under the bush. My wife managed to grab her by the tail and we got her home safe.
Mr Boyle said the wallaby stuck to the road which was unusual as they would have expected her to disappear into forestry.
"It was great for me because if she had gone into the forestry we may never have seen her again. My worry would be that she would have got stressed or injured but we got her back in one piece without
a scratch on her. "
Andrew said Dora would have survived on her own if she hadn't been found.
"There is a colony of them off Lambay Island in Dublin Bay. There was some release there in the 70s. There is also a couple of colonies in Scotland where they were released during the second World War.
"They are completely vegetarian. They are very peaceful animals. They are lovely."
Mr Boyle has invited taxi driver Noel Smith who first spotted the wallaby to visit the animal sanctuary. Noel says his grandchildren will be "absolutely delighted" to see the wandering wallaby in person.
Mr Smith said that he half expected gardai to breathalyse him when he presented to the garda station last Friday claiming that that spotted a kangaroo hopping along the road at Mountain Barracks near Kilworth.
"When I walked into the garda said 'Hold on I have to get my colleague out for this.' The two of them were standing there looking at me. Even as I was walking in I said 'This is a bad idea.' The guard said to me 'You know what we are
going to be told when we tell this to the patrol cars.' I was in complete shock when I saw it."
Noel says that the theme for Skippy the Bush kangaroo will haunt him for the rest of his life.
"If I hear that again I will jump through the window. All week my grandkids are singing that to me."
Photo: Araglin Animal Centre
