ARLINGTON, Wash. — The pet wallaby, 6-year-old Bella, was being taken from a car to the Outback Kangaroo Farm near Arlington on Friday.
"The cage kind of broke open as we were trying to move it around and she escaped," said Ray Strom, owner of the Outback Kangaroo Farm.
Then she jumped out of her cage and ran across Highway 530.
"We just never dreamed that it was going to be that bad," said Strom.
Bella's owner, Gayle Van Alstyne, who runs a petting zoo in Maple Valley, thinks the wire kennel may have loosened during the car ride.
Van Alstyne was taking Bella and two other wallabies to the farm for temporary housing.
She said that she's had Bella for about 4 and a half years, and has even used Bella as a teaching tool for first graders learning about Australia and the wildlife in the Tahoma School District.
Friends and neighbors tracked the animal toward downtown Arlington.
"We were looking more up river and now we're looking more down river," said Strom.
He says that Bella could live off of the shrubs outdoors but may be in harm's way because of predators and stress.
"She's going to get stressed and they get all confused and their whole instinct is to run then," said Strom.
Strom adds that Bella doesn't bite and hopes that she will approach someone.
"If they see her and contain her we could come get her," said Strom
Anyone with information about the missing wallaby is asked to call Gayle Van Alstyne at 206-743-7082 or Ray Strom at 425-210-2706.
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