JOYCE – Pebbles the wallaby is hopping somewhere around Joyce, and her owner, Kiki Littlefish, is looking for her.
The 1½-year old red-necked wallaby is not considered dangerous, but rather is probably pretty scared and trying to avoid people and loud noises, said Littlefish, who lives east of Joyce.
“They are very skittish animals,” she said.
“They’re like having a small deer. They get stressed out very easily.”
Wallabies are similar to kangaroos but much smaller.
The pouched mammals are native to Australia and some species have been found native in New Guinea.
Littlefish, who has a license to keep exotic animals, raised Pebbles since she was four weeks old.
Now the animal is pregnant.
“She expecting a joey this month, which is one of the reasons we’re really worried about her,” Littlefish said.
Littlefish said Pebbles punched a hole in the fence of her 50-by-25-foot pen Tuesday.
She thinks someone mowing the lawn too close to the pen may have agitated her.
Littlefish looked around her property Wednesday but with no luck.
“She’s only about 2.5 feet tall,” she said.
“Some of the grass we have is taller than her.”
Anyone who spots Pebbles is encouraged to call the Clallam County Humane Society, which is aware of the missing marsupial, at 360-457-8206.
“If people do see her, do not try to approach her,” Littlefish said.
“If someone tries to approach her, she’ll probably run away.”
Littlefish owns another wallaby, a 3-year-old male named Wally.
She also has sugar gliders, which are flying opossum, flying squirrels, a ferret and an African bush baby, which is a nocturnal primate much like a lemur.
“Everything that I have has to be small enough that its not a protential threat to anyone else,” Littlefish said.
