{"id":379469,"date":"2025-12-31T08:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T08:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/379469\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T08:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T08:38:09","slug":"search-is-on-after-runaway-wallaby-named-rex-escapes-from-new-jersey-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/379469\/","title":{"rendered":"Search is on after runaway wallaby named Rex escapes from New Jersey farm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/northeast\/new-jersey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">New Jersey authorities<\/a> are using drones to search for a runaway wallaby who hopped his way off an animal farm in Gloucester County on Monday night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Rex, a 3-year-old wallaby, wandered away from the Lots of Love Farm in Williamstown after a gate was allegedly left unlatched overnight.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/lifestyle\/pets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">missing marsupial<\/a> was later spotted in a Walmart parking lot nearly five miles from the farm Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Sue Layden, who owns the animal sanctuary with her husband, told Fox News Digital they have had Rex for a few years and he &#8220;loves people,&#8221; along with romaine lettuce.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/rex-wallaby-escaped-new-jersey-002.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of Rex, the wallaby, missing in New Jersey\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Officials are on the hunt for a wallaby, named Rex, who went missing in the New Jersey area. (WTXF)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/tech\/ai-drone-finds-missing-hikers-remains-mountains-after-10-months\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">AI DRONE FINDS MISSING HIKER&#8217;S REMAINS IN MOUNTAINS AFTER 10 MONTHS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>She described him as a &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/science\/wild-nature\/mammals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">miniature kangaroo<\/a>,&#8221; noting he can leap nearly 10 feet in a single bound and reach speeds up to 35 miles an hour.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They get hoppin&#8217;,&#8221; Layden said. &#8220;In the wild, they are prey animals, they don&#8217;t really have any real defense, so their first instinct is to run. That&#8217;s what puts him in that frame of mind. He&#8217;s not like that here, but strangers screaming \u2018Oh my god!\u2019 might.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Wallabies are small to medium-sized marsupials similar to kangaroos, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/world\/world-regions\/australia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">native to Australia<\/a> and nearby islands.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/rex-wallaby-missing-new-jersey-004.jpg\" alt=\"Rex the wallaby in Lots of Love Farm in New Jersey\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Rex the wallaby allegedly escaped through an unlatched gate at an animal sanctuary in New Jersey. (Lots of Love Farm via Facebook)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/runaway-zebras-wild-adventure-comes-end-after-dramatic-helicopter-rescue\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">RUNAWAY ZEBRA&#8217;S WILD ADVENTURE COMES TO AN END AFTER DRAMATIC HELICOPTER RESCUE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Layden added the farm believes Rex will return home, since he is well socialized with humans.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He got out [and went] right through the woods. I don&#8217;t think he really wants to leave home,&#8221; she said. &#8220;People who visit [the farm] pet him and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/health\/healthy-living\/pet-health\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">love on him<\/a>, so he likes it here. \u2026 I&#8217;m just keeping my fingers crossed that he&#8217;s staying around, because if he just gets close enough and comes in, we have his pen open waiting for him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While Layden acknowledged Rex is &#8220;adorable,&#8221; describing him as a stuffed animal with a marsupial personality, she said that is not always the case.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In the wild, if you corner them, they attack,&#8221; Layden said. &#8220;You get a slap-down kind of thing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/rex-wallaby-escaped-new-jersey-001.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of Rex the wallaby\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Officials are looking for a missing wallaby, named Rex, who remains on the loose in New Jersey. (WTXF)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/tech\/technologies\/drones\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">drone pet locating company<\/a> is helping with the search, and Layden emphasized the community should not try to chase him.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have had a couple of pretty good tips, so we are checking all of that out,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Alexandra Koch is a Fox News Digital journalist who covers breaking news, with a focus on high-impact events that shape national conversation.<\/p>\n<p>She has covered major national crises, including the L.A. wildfires, Potomac and Hudson River aviation disasters, Boulder terror attack, and Texas Hill Country floods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! New Jersey authorities are using drones to search for a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[149,1997,143745,1068,56954,79,25,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-379469","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-lifestyle","9":"tag-new-jersey","10":"tag-odd-news","11":"tag-pets","12":"tag-police-and-law-enforcement","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}