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Rogue kangaroo confuses the heck out of people in Austria. Yes, Austria.

Nope, that doesn't read "Australia."
 By 
Shannon Connellan
 on 
Rogue kangaroo confuses the heck out of people in Austria. Yes, Austria.
A red necked kangaroo at Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria. Not Australia. Credit: JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images

Kangaroos hopping about in Australia wouldn't make news. But a rogue hopper in Austria? Everything is melting.

A kangaroo has been sighted casually making its way through the forests and meadows of Austria, the country routinely confused for the marsupial's similarly named motherland.

Police identified the roaming roo from videos and images taken by locals, telling Agence France-Presse it had been spotted "numerous times" in Upper Austria over the last week. Exactly what type of kangaroo has not been determined.

BBC reports the kangaroo had been seen near the small town of Kirchschlag in northern Austria. And this Instagram video caught it in the Mühlviertel region.

Local Ruth Kastner told media outlet ORF she spotted the kangaroo while driving with her husband.

"It then hopped a bit over the meadow and then moved away from the road towards the forest," she said. "I think it's so splendid and is looking for a quiet place."

So, where did the kangaroo come from? A local zoo was our best guess, but turns out the police have checked that lead.

"We have called all the zoos and kangaroo breeders around us, but no one is missing a kangaroo. We hope the owner will come forward," a Hellmonsoedt police official told AFP.

So, "kangaroo breeders" then? It's some kind of pet? You can reportedly keep a kangaroo in Austria, according to AFP, but you need a special animal license.

Police are certain the kangaroo will be alright, if you were wondering how it's doing out there. "Its survival chances [in the wild] are perfect," the police official said.

It's not the first time a kangaroo has been seen on the loose in Austria — one of the last occasions was in 2016, when police tracked two kangaroos for weeks in Styria, in the southeast of the country.

Look, Australians ride them to work, have them deliver groceries, and keep their phones in their pouches. Maybe they're migrating to greener pastures.

Topics Animals

A photo portrait of a journalist with blonde hair and a band t-shirt.
Shannon Connellan
UK Editor

Shannon Connellan is Mashable's UK Editor based in London, formerly Mashable's Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives in the Creel House. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror.

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