Wallaby Feared Dead After Nightclub Prank

During a birthday party at a Dublin hotel nightclub last Saturday night, the DJ started playing the theme song from the TV show Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. As an apparent practical joke, a terrified wallaby was released from a box onto the dance floor.

In a 74-second video made by a partygoer, the Irish Times reports that the marsupial is roughly lifted about three feet off the ground as loud music plays. Partygoers shout and grab at it while flashes from cameras burst around it. The wallaby can be seen frantically trying to break free. The video ends with a man holding the wallaby to his groin and simulating a sex act.

An official investigation began only after enraged animal welfare advocates saw the video after it was uploaded on Facebook (it has since been removed) and notified police. The BBC reports that the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) received five complaints about the incident, only one of which was from a partygoer. There were an estimated 150 to 200 guests at the birthday party for a 30-year-old.

"We know that the animal was videoed, and you can imagine the fear and stress it must have felt. It is completely unacceptable that an animal would be used in this way," Orla Aungier of the DSPCA told the BBC.

Police are trying to find the owner of the wallaby, and determine whether the creature is still alive.

There are unconfirmed reports that the wallaby was given alcohol and the drug Ecstasy, which may have contributed to its death — if it's dead, that is. As sickening as these allegations are, the poor creature could have simply died from fright. According to the Herald.ie, kangaroos and wallabies can die quickly when they become stressed.

At least the staff at the Clarion Hotel was upset by the incident. The general manager, Garret Marrinan, told the BBC, "We're horrified by this." He said the night manager noticed "some kind of a strange animal coming out of a box and shortly after going back into it," and called security, who forced the people to take it out of the hotel.

Initially it was thought the wallaby may have been stolen from a nearby circus as a practical joke, which turned out not to be the case. Police are investigating whether it was taken from Lambay Island off the coast of Dublin, where wallabies were relocated in the 1980s to alleviate overcrowding at the Dublin Zoo.

Or maybe the wallaby was a party guest’s pet.

Exotic animals are not banned in Ireland. In fact, you can easily buy a wallaby, zebra or alligator online from Irish websites — no license required (licenses are required, however, for dogs and cats). Wallabies cost about 700 Euros ($975) each, says Sky News.

RTE News reports that employees at the Reptile Village Zoo in Co. Kilkenny are “all too aware of the trend for exotic pets,” and want new legislation put in place to end the trend.

Zoo staff member James Hennessey said, “To have a dog, you go in and get a license. Yet you can go and buy a crocodile — you’re breaking no laws. You don’t need any license or experience to own one. It’s absolute madness.”

It's apparently unlikely that the madness will end anytime soon. On the DSPCA website, Aungier calls for the introduction of a registration system for exotic animals, legislation that's included in the Animal Health and Welfare Bill. "[W]e have been assured time and again by successive administrations that it will be provided, but it has once again been put on the long finger."

In the meantime, the Animal Rights Action Network (ARAN) is offering a 10,000 Euro reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator of the wallaby incident.

Photo credit: OpenCage.info