Mushroomers in Estonia sure they met a kangaroo

Photo: memrise.com

In Kolu Village Türi Parish last Wednesday, mushroom pickers left wood in hurry having run into what they are convinced was a kangaroo. 

It was an unmarried couple. The lady said they had been to the place for years but this time it was different with this stragne animal around. 

«It was grayish and in the beginning I thought it was a deer but as it rose to hind feet it looked like the kangaroos we saw in the zoo. I was so startled seeing this is not the usual in our woods here,» she explained. 

The man agreed it looked like kangaroo and though it felt weird, they thought it best to exit the forest while the beast swiftly disappeared.  

The lady talked to the local Järva Teataja newspaper out of curiosity to learn if kangaroos may indeed be met here or was this just their imagination. «But we hadn't eaten the mushrooms so it could not be hallucinations...» 

A woman with some exotic animals in her farm said they have no kangaroos and she knew of nobody who would, in the village. She guessed they saw a goat. Married to a hunter, she is aware that when startled, goats may rise to hind feet and then look unfamiliar to the untrained eye. 

A exotic animal and bird keeper on the Isle of Muhumaa, Helena Erik said they do have kangaroos and have sold some into Järva County.

She has not heard of any that has run away but did not totally exclude such an event as the animals may jump a fence and once on the run catching them may be near impossible. «If maybe with a sleeping shot,» she added.  

According to Ms Erik, it is easy to buy a kangaroo in Estonia while raising them is quite an art. «We do instruct people in it,»she continued and explained that it is only in summertime that an exotic animal might survive in woods of Estonia.