Wolf 'snatches pet kangaroo' from Belgium home

A wolf has reportedly taken a privately owned kangaroo from a family's garden in Balen, north-east Belgium.

Jan Loos, a wolf expert, was called to the property by the owners and said he had found wolf prints at the scene.

Mr Loos told AFP the kangaroo is "probably dead" having been eaten by the animal. He said a second kangaroo had also been wounded in the attack.

Wild wolves used to live in much of continental Europe, but their numbers have been depleted by hunting.

In recent years, sightings of the animals have been on the increase and in 2018 one was recorded in Belgium for the first time in more than 100 years.

Mr Loos, the director of a wolf and wildlife centre called Landschap, said he believed an animal named August could be behind the animal's disappearance.

The wolf has been spotted slipping across a nearby border into Germany and is known to roam the area, he said.

"I found wolf prints, so it's quite sure it's a wolf, but we're not 100 per cent sure which wolf," he told AFP.

The expert said local wolves usually ate animals like boars and deer, but the size of a kangaroo would have made it easy to carry off.

No remains of the kangaroo have been found, Mr Loos added.