A kangaroo that was on the loose for five days was captured in Boucherville on Tuesday. He is now in the care of Granby Zoo.
CityNews was joined by Frédéric Bérard, a lawyer representing the Galahad SPCA on Montreal’s South Shore.
What can you tell us about how they managed to capture Joey the kangaroo?
Well, that was quite a story because the ministry waited five days before doing its job. They had many, many warnings. We knew where Joey was, but they didn’t want to do anything. And there were some other institutions that wanted to take care of Joey and to bring him to the Miller Zoo, but the ministry refused. So it took like five days of interviews and public pressure before the ministry decided to move on and do something. So they just gave him a tranquilizer and they brought him to the Granby Zoo for a reason that is still unknown to this day.
What can you tell us about the kangaroo, that he was obtained on the black market, it seems?
That’s for sure. The owner of Joey was inspected on Wednesday, and this is how somebody found out that there was a kangaroo in there. So they gave a call to the ministry. And then they’ve been told that the owner did not have any kind of licence or permit, which is a very serious offence. There’s a black market, you said it, for exotic animals, which is a very lucrative market. I’ve been told something like $5K for a kangaroo. So, I would ask the ministry to start an inquiry. Start by talking to that owner. Where did he buy Joey? When? Why? And we could probably start there, I guess, because the black market is not only in Quebec and in other places in Canada, but also in the U.S.
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And we certainly need to do something to stop this because it’s just abnormal not to say anything, to bring a kangaroo in Boucherville without any criminal consequences. I mean, this is a very serious offence. The ministry is there to protect the animals. This is part of its mission. So what is it doing right now? I mean, the question is up in the air.
What kind of repercussions can this owner face?
Well, actually, in terms of criminal code, this is an offence. Yeah, you could do jail for that. That’s for sure. Yeah, yeah. Not to say fines and all that. But I would say that aside of this specific owner, I would certainly use the situation, the poor situation of Joey who will spend the rest of his life in the Granby Zoo, which is not recognized to take care of animals that much, instead of running in the landscape of Australia. So let’s use that opportunity to have a better idea of how it works, that black market. Who’s in charge? Where does that come from? It’s very easy. They know where the owner lives. It’s in Boucherville. Pretty easy things to do.
