Locals were shocked when a wild wallaby was spotted in Devon - thousands of miles from Australia. <br /><br />John Cook was left baffled after spotting the little marsupial picking around a hedge on the side of a road near the village of Hemyock.<br /><br />Stunned John, 56, was travelling along the lane for work when he spotted the little marsupial.<br /><br />He was so shocked by what he had just witnessed that he decided to stop and get out his van to get a closer look.<br /><br />"I had to do a double-take, as I couldn't believe what I was seeing," John, a service driver, said.<br /><br />"It stayed visible for the whole time I was there approximately five minutes."<br /><br />The animals are used to the Australian sunshine, but the creature seemed quite happy in the far more frigid Devon climate. <br /><br />John, who lives in Exeter, added: "It looked healthy and was eating leaves when I first saw it.<br /><br />"It looked straight at me and I was within 8ft of it and didn’t seem alarmed or distressed by me being there.<br /><br />"[I felt] Disbelief to begin with as I thought that it could not possibly be true.<br /><br />"I have lived in Devon for most of my life and I have never heard of anyone seeing a wallaby before."<br /><br />Although wallabies usually live in Australia and Papua New Guinea, they have been spotted in the UK before, including in Hemyock, Devon.<br /><br />In 2021, a farmer sighted one hopping across his field and in 2020, another was spotted one hopping down a country lane.<br /><br />John's friends and family were equally shocked when they heard what had happened.<br /><br />He said: "Some people thought I was joking. Others were shocked and amazed by what I had seen.<br /><br />"I initially thought it might have escaped from somewhere until I did some internet research when I got home and learned that there is a number of wallabies living wild in the UK."<br /><br />There are about 1,740 wallabies that are believed to be living in the UK, including both wild and those living in captivity.
