A few days after starting to leave its mother's pouch, a baby wallaby went missing from the Detroit Zoo. The gender of the baby is yet to be determined by the zookeepers.
The joey is approximately 5 and 6 months old. Friday morning a post was shared on its Facebook page by the zoo which announced a new addition to the zoo as Sprocket, the 4-year-old wallaby, gave birth to her first joey. They also shared beautiful pictures of the mother and the baby.
The joey was last seen by the zoo people around 5 p.m. on Saturday and it seems that it went missing on Sunday morning. The zookeepers started the search immediately after they came to know that the joey could not be seen.
The situation is extremely worrying because the joey is still a little baby and at this young age, although it is trying to start the process of being independent, it is totally dependent on its mother for caring and nursing and it also needs to spend time in her pouch. Wallaby joeys generally stay in their mothers' pouches for up to eight months.
It is very much unlikely that the young wallaby will be able to survive an extended amount of time away from its mother. The zookeepers are reviewing every possible scenario and are hopeful that the joey will soon be found unharmed. The search team consists of around 15 volunteers and staff members.
Zoo staff is continuously searching the areas that are surrounding the Australian Outback Adventure habitat and also going through the surveillance footage.
Apart from Sprocket and the missing joey, the zoo has also two other red-necked wallabies, Eloise, a female, and Bucky, her joey, born in October 2020.
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