Scared to death... the wallaby tormented by a gang of teenagers
A BABy wallaby has died after it was terrorised by a group of teenagers who ran amok on a farm park.
It is thought the gang of five chased the animals around their pen after causing damage elsewhere in the park on Saturday.
Some of the wallabies escaped the pen but an 18-month-old, named Mick, was found badly stressed on Sunday morning.
Despite the efforts of vets, he died hours later at Dalscone Farm Park, Dumfries.
Police have examined CCTV footage of the incident, which started around 6pm.
Park manager Ben Best said the gang are thought to have been involved in incidents at other premises in the area.
He added: ‘They jumped into the park, went up to the animal area where they smashed the sanitisers, broke our animal food dispensers then went into the ride-on lawnmowers.
‘The worst thing of the lot is the trauma and severe stress which the wallabies suffered. It’s heartbreaking.’
When the teenagers began chasing the animals, two wallabies escaped from the pen, with one straying dangerously close to the main road. But the younger beast was trapped in the enclosure.
Mr Best said: ‘They obviously terrorised it and on Sunday morning it was in an awful state. The vet said it was a state of severe trauma and stress which affects the stomach and heart.
He added: ‘The animals have to be in tip-top shape fo the public. ‘Keeping them like that takes a lot of work and to come in there and spoil years of work is horrendous. It ruins years of work in five minutes.’
Both the park and Dumfries Police shared information on Facebook about the break-in.
There were hundreds of responses, including one person seeming to associate himself with the incident. A man from Dumfries said: ‘Only tried too [sic] rob the laurnmore [sic], never killed any animal.’
Constable Kennedy Anderson said: ‘We are following a positive line of inquiry.’