A runaway kangaroo enjoyed its 15 footloose minutes of fame Saturday in the land down under the Verrazano Bridge.
A marsupial named Buster was busted around 8 a.m. after slipping through an unlocked gate in a 6-foot-high fence and happily hopping through Staten Island, according to cops and witnesses.
“It was jumping around, enjoying the freedom and the fun,” said Urim Osmani, 34, owner of the nearby Alb’s Auto Repair on Travis Ave. “We didn’t know what it was.”
Kangaroo was not on his list of possible answers until Osmani managed a better look.
“We thought it was a deer,” he said. “When it came closer, we saw it was a kangaroo. We thought it disappeared from a zoo or something.”
Police sources confirmed that the 4-foot-tall kangaroo belongs to John Schirripa, who made the news in November 2012 when a zebra and a Shetland pony escaped from his stable in the same neighborhood.
Schirripa told cops that the ‘roo belonged to his brother, who he said brought Buster with him from upstate New York to his sibling’s Victory Blvd. home. Buster was bopping around in the backyard Saturday morning when he found the unsecured gate and made his move.
The cagey kangaroo managed to hop two houses down, surprising the living hell out of residents. Several called 911 to report a wild animal.
When cops arrived, they found Buster bouncing up and down in a neighbor’s yard. The cops surrounded the kangaroo, but the owner quickly showed up, subdued the animal and returned him to the backyard.
Buster’s adventure in the big city lasted about 10 to 15 minutes, according to a police source.
No charges were filed and Buster remains in his owner’s custody. The ASPCA was notified, per procedure, but it doesn’t look like they will get involved, according to cops.
“It looks like it’s legal to possess a kangaroo where this man is from,” a police source said. “Since he was visiting the area and was returning home today, there was no violation.”
Buster wasn’t injured, and neither were the police who responded.
“We were trying to keep it calm. We didn’t want to scare him,” Osmani said. “We were scared it was going to hurt somebody. It jumped a couple of times and then it disappeared.”
ON A MOBILE DEVICE? WATCH VIDEO HERE.
