Not your typical animal control call: Injured baby kangaroo rescued from KC-area highway
A call about an injured animal in the middle of a Kansas City area highway was not your typical animal control call.
“You have some questions about our kangaroo?” asked Capt. Mike Krauze with the Bonner Springs Police Department when he returned The Star’s call Thursday.
Indeed we did.
Authorities first became aware of the unusual animal Wednesday night when a person called Edwardsville police about 9 p.m., Krauze said.
The caller was driving on Interstate 435 and had spotted a baby kangaroo in the median near Kansas 32 highway, he said.
Edwardsville officers along with Bonner Springs Animal Control responded and once there noticed what they initially thought was an injured wallaby, Krauze said.
“It was in the middle of the night when my officers got out there,” he said as a way to explain the mix up. “They’re not exactly experts. So we were dealing with what we thought. But it is a kangaroo joey. Its a baby kangaroo.”
Using a net, Bonner Springs animal control officer Kendra Anthony was able to trap the animal and then assist Edwardsville Police officers in getting it to safety. They brought the joey to the Bonner Springs animal control facility were it was being cared for until its owner could pick it up.
It is believed that the animal escaped from the Thorni Ridge Exotics mobile petting zoo out of Smithton, Missouri, which is is about 100 miles southeast of the Kansas city area, Krauze said.
In an effort to find the animal’s owner, Edwardsville police posted photos on Facebook, Edwardsville Police Chief Mark Mathies said in an email.
A tip came in via Facebook Messenger detailing an event at the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Library which included a mobile exotic petting zoo. A kangaroo was part of the experience.
“Unbeknownst to the vehicle’s driver, during transport back to their facility, the kangaroo escaped the vehicle through an open window,” Mathies said.
Detectives located the owner and returned the kangaroo. The owner agreed to seek veterinary car for the joey’s injuries, he said.
The injuries were minor, such as scrapes and scratches, Mathies said. It is believed the animal sustained the injures when falling from the vehicle.
Because the animal was from a petting zoo and had been around people, it wasn’t too difficult to catch, Krauze said. It did take them a little bit.
Krauze started to compare the animal to what he thought would be “normal” for a kangaroo. He abruptly halted his sentence.
“There is nothing normal about a kangaroo in the middle of 435,” he said. “This isn’t Australia, so random kangaroos in the middle of the highway aren’t normal.”
While unusual, dealing with exotic animals is not something unheard of for that part of the metro. In late 2021, a camel was seen roaming free on the streets of Bonner Springs and running down a highway before they were able to lasso it and end its grand adventure.
“We had the camel — now we have the kangaroo,” Krauze said. “Lord only knows what’s next.”
