Missing kangaroo back home in Granbury after 2-day search
GRANBURY, Texas - A missing kangaroo is back home safe after spending two days on its own lost in Hood County.
Nigel is a pet that lives with a family in Granbury, about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
On Tuesday, Nigel jumped a backyard fence. Crews were drilling a well on a nearby property and his owner said he got scared.
"The new well was drilling and he’s never jumped the fence before in his life, but the new well was going in really close to his backyard and it scared him and he jumped the fence," Nigel's owner, Briana LaFleur, said.
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People in the neighborhood stepped up to help find him. Volunteers searched wooded areas and drones were used to get an aerial view.
Nigel was spotted a few times but never got close enough for his owner to catch him until Thursday morning.
"He came home. I couldn't be happier they called me and said he was right here and I knew he was trying to get back," LaFleur said. "He just came home. The guy right next door to us called me and said he was on the road, so I jumped the fence and called him and he came up to me."
LaFleur said Nigel is just like her child that went missing. She and her fiance, Ernie Steenekamp, were worried for two days.
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"The last two days I haven’t eaten, and I haven’t slept. I’ve just been waiting for him to come back. This is incredible," she said "It was so terrible not knowing about the coyotes and the bobcats out in the woods. It was just terrible."
LaFleur got Nigel a couple years ago from a friend who breeds exotic animals, and it's plain to see he’s become a part of their household.
His owner said he doesn’t know how to survive on his own, as he is bottle-fed and wears a diaper.
Nigel did have scratches and needs a few days of bed rest.
She’s thankful he’s back and plans to build a taller fence.
"We’re actually going to try to get some fencers out here, we’re going to build the fence even taller so he can never get back out again. This is just a crazy ordeal," LaFleur said.