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NEW YORK — Coney Island’s famous boardwalk has seen its share of odd sights since it opened in 1923. But a wallaby with a resident was probably a new experience for beachgoers at the New York City beach.
According to the New York City Police Department, officers received reports of an individual strolling the boardwalk with the marsupial on Friday night.
While it is legal to own a wallaby in New York City as a pet, authorities frown upon displaying the animal in a public place. The New York State Senate passed a bill in May 2023 that made owning an “indigenous, non-domesticated animals native to the country in which they live” -- like a wallaby -- legal.
After receiving reports of an individual with a Wallaby on the Coney Island Boardwalk last night, officers from the @NYPD60Pct responded & rescued the animal, giving it to the @NYCACC. The individual received a summons for "possession of a wild marsupial." pic.twitter.com/EC4380voW6
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) August 19, 2023
Police confiscated the animal and sent it to the Animal Care Center of New York, WPIX-TV reported.
Wallabies are small, pouched marsupials that belong to a group of animals found in Australia and New Guinea, according to the New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment website.
The wallaby’s owner was issued a summons for “possession of a wild marsupial,” police wrote in a tweet.
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