{"id":354329,"date":"2026-03-29T23:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T23:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/354329\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T23:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T23:00:16","slug":"chesney-the-kangaroo-found-three-days-after-hopping-away-from-farm-wisconsin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/354329\/","title":{"rendered":"Chesney the kangaroo found three days after hopping away from farm | Wisconsin"},"content":{"rendered":"

How does a kangaroo escape a petting zoo?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the opening line to a dad joke. If you\u2019re Chesney the kangaroo, you scale an 8ft (2.5-meter) fence and go on the lam for three days, giving your keeper sleepless nights and sending residents of a small Wisconsin<\/a> town on a search that would end happily on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The unprecedented leap at Sunshine Farm in Necedah, Wisconsin<\/a>, last week was precipitated by some stray dogs that rushed the enclosure and spooked the 16-month-old Chesney, said Debbie Marland, his keeper. She and friends then trekked hither and yon in this town about 160 miles (255km) north-west of Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

They chased reports of sightings and even rented heat-seeking drones, which proved effective in narrowing down the wanderings of the high-jumping adventurer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was putting on about 37,000 steps per day looking for him,\u201d Marland said on Sunday. \u201cI haven\u2019t done so much exercise in a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chesney and his roommate Kenny are named for country music star Kenny Chesney<\/a>. They\u2019re among 25 animals at Sunshine Farm, with horses, sheep, alpacas, Kunekune pigs, Highland cows and a Bactrian camel. The farm is generally open Fridays through Sundays from mid-May through mid-November, and tours are offered to visitors who can interact with the animals.<\/p>\n

Chesney escaped about 11.15am last Wednesday. Though he stayed within a 3-mile radius of the farm, he kept his pursuers guessing. According to Marland\u2019s friend, Stacy Brereton, who helps out at the farm, Friday was a tough day. No one had spotted Chesney all day and searchers feared he had wandered farther afield into even more unfamiliar territory, Brereton said.<\/p>\n

Then, Friday night, Chesney was discovered nestled under a tree in a wooded area. A group of searchers surrounded him, but ever fleet of foot \u2013 20 mph (32km\/h) is no stretch for him \u2013 Chesney eluded them.<\/p>\n

Marland returned to the area on Saturday morning with Chesney\u2019s favorite treats and pieces of material that had his and Kenny\u2019s scent. Other searchers later joined her. But with no sign of the kangaroo, they started packing up. Just then, they spotted the long-eared kangaroo with outsize back legs approaching.<\/p>\n

Brereton stepped up with a delicate touch.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a very calm attitude when he walked up. Obviously you could tell he wasn\u2019t in fight-or-flight mode, so I just went with that,\u201d Brereton said. \u201cI just stayed calm with him and I just kind of went and sat and let him come to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chesney heard the voices and wanted attention, said Brereton, who eventually scooped up the 40lb (18kg) animal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe he heard our comforting voices, he smelled the familiar smells of home and it just made him feel safe,\u201d said Brereton, adding: \u201cI\u2019m just glad he loves me as much as I love him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marland said the \u201cthe community really did come together\u201d for the kangaroo, who is now something of a celebrity. A Sunshine Farm fan has written<\/a> a children\u2019s book about Chesney\u2019s adventures, which Marland hopes to publish and sell to recoup some of the search costs.<\/p>\n

Kenny, who with his marsupial mate has the run of Marland\u2019s house, was happy to be reunited with Chesney. Though hungry and tired, Chesney was otherwise healthy but will get a checkup with the veterinarian shortly.<\/p>\n

To be safe, Marland added, a new mesh top will be placed over the kangaroo enclosure to prevent any more high-jumping hijinks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How does a kangaroo escape a petting zoo? It\u2019s not the opening line to a dad joke. If…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-354329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}