Kangaroo Startles Drivers on an Alabama Interstate

U.S.|Kangaroo Startles Drivers on an Alabama Interstate

Let’s take a look at the latest news out of Macon County, Ala.

“A two-vehicle crash occurred at approximately 11:50 a.m. on Tuesday, April 29.”

OK, not much to see there. Guess it’s worth finishing the sentence though.

“Involving a kangaroo.”

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Yes, that was a kangaroo on Interstate 85 between the cities of Auburn and Tuskegee on Monday.

Video taken from a vehicle just behind the ’roo shows it hopping along the left side of the road accompanied by an understandable “What the … ?” from an occupant of the car. The kangaroo smoothly crosses the road and continues hopping on the right side.

Let’s be friendly about this though. The kangaroo has a name: Sheila. And don’t worry. She’s OK.

Law enforcement officials shut the interstate in both directions for the safety of the kangaroo and motorists. The kangaroo’s owner, Patrick Starr, was also called to the scene. Mr. Starr runs Choctafaula Ranch, an agricultural tourism site southwest of Auburn, with a pumpkin patch, petting zoo and the like, although the kangaroo was a private pet, he said.

Mr. Starr said that Sheila’s “enclosure got comprised somehow, in the real wee hours of the morning around 6 a.m.”

“As soon as we were up that morning we started getting calls,” he said. “I reached out to local law enforcement. We’re adjacent to the interstate, and it got onto the interstate. We located it in about 10 to 15 minutes, fairly quick.”

Luckily for posterity, Sheriff André Brunson of Macon County took video to record the culmination of the incident.

When the video starts, the kangaroo has already been hit by a tranquilizer dart fired by Mr. Starr but is still loose. “A kangaroo in Macon County, Ala.,” Sheriff Brunson marvels. He then gets out of his car and puts on a cowboy hat with a badge on it. “We’re going to see if we can apprehend this kangaroo.”

“When somebody said there was a kangaroo, of course I didn’t believe him, and nobody believed him,” Sheriff Brunson says. “But I’m looking at him.”

The video shows Mr. Starr picking up the sleepy marsupial and carrying her to his car. “We see a little bit of everything here,” Sheriff Brunson says.

And let’s end with the good news that everyone most wants to hear.

The car accident on the interstate was minor, Mr. Starr said, with no injuries or damage, perhaps caused by astonished drivers rubbernecking.

And, Mr. Starr said Wednesday, Sheila is “not injured at all; she woke up like normal.”

Kitty Bennett contributed research.