Report from Chris Smith
Wallaby Find Ignites Island Mystery
By Paul O'Hare, Scottish Press Association, in the Scotsman 9 th June 2004
A dead wallaby has been found on a Scottish island, according to baffling locals.
A motorist found the marsupial on a main road 100 yards from Islay airport yesterday morning.
Police and environmental health officials examined the 3.5ft animal before it was buried on the Hebridean island.
An airport spokesman said: "We think it is a wallaby. It had a broken leg and looked as if it had been hit by a car."
On its origins, he said: "We get 20,000 passengers a year but we have never had any wallabies.
"I don't think there is any record of the animals on the island. It's a bit of mystery really."
It is believed there are wallabies living in the wild in the Loch Lomond area.
But the spokesman said: "They are strong swimmers but it would be stretching the imagination for one to swim from Loch Lomond to Islay."
He said the most likely theory is that the animal was killed on the mainland and dumped on the island, perhaps as a practical joke.
© The Scotsman, 9 th June 2004
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