Watch wayward kangaroo jaunt down country road after escaping handlers in Alabama

A kangaroo named Jack is on the lam in Alabama.

The marsupial has been spotted hopping all over Winfield in northwest Alabama, about 20 miles from the Mississippi border, according to videos shared on social media Monday. Media outlets reported Jack escaped his handlers at a farm in the small town, which is home to just under 5,000 people.

“This joker is running dead at me and I jumped out the way,” resident Tiffany Perry wrote on Facebook after posting a video of Jack sprinting past mailboxes and driveways on a country road. “I’m not squaring up against one. I saw my life flash before my eyes.”

Others in town reported spotting the kangaroo throughout the afternoon hurdling along behind a garage and grooming himself outside of a carport.

But it wasn’t until close to 11 p.m. that Jack’s owner Braxton Basinger posted on Facebook about his kangaroo getting loose.

“If you see him, call me before approaching him,” he wrote. “He’s gentle, but he’s still a wild animal.”

Basinger, who works with B and H Livestock, told CBS 42 he bought Jack in Mississippi and was going to sell him to a buyer in Tennessee. In the meantime, Jack was reportedly staying at Basinger’s property in Winfield.

The kangaroo got loose when an employee let him slip through his fingers getting out of a trailer, according to CBS 42.

“You have to grab them buy the tail to have control over them,” Basinger told the TV station. “He grabbed him by the tail, but he didn’t have a good grip on him. Next thing I know, he’s going down the driveway.”

Kangaroos can hop comfortably at 13 to 16 mph but are capable of reaching speeds of 40-plus mph, according to speedofanimals.com.

Basingersaid B and H Livestock “transport exotic animals regularly, but they have limited experience with kangaroos,” WBRC reported.

There have been three “unsuccessful attempts” to capture Jack, according to the TV station. But as of Tuesday, WBRC reported they still “have eyes on the kangaroo.”

Basinger is asking anyone who sees the animal to call him at 901-488-0888.