A kangaroo was on the loose for half an hour in a Fort Lauderdale neighborhood Thursday morning before police were able to safely capture it and turn it over to the Florida Wildlife Commission.
The owner was charged for not having a permit for the animal, since it is against city code to keep wildlife as pets.
Police responded to the call around 9 a.m. Thursday morning in the 1300 block of Northeast 2nd Avenue.
"At first we didn't really believe it because there was only one call, but when we got there, sure enough, there was a kangaroo," said Robert Norvise, a Fort Lauderdale police officer.
"We were able to come together and get him surrounded and once we had him closed in, he was very friendly, we were able to get a rope around his neck and put him in the back of the car."
Local
Chopper footage from NBC 6 showed the kangaroo calmly being escorted into the police vehicle.
Norvise said that in his 26 years on the job, he has seen snakes, dogs, and alligators, but never a kangaroo. He suspected it had been domesticated, because the animal was "very friendly" and allowed the officers to pet him.
Officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission showed up at the owner's house to charge him. They told NBC 6 the kangaroo would go to a licensed facility.
In the meantime, the kangaroo was being kept in a barn in Fort Lauderdale.
