All's well that ends wallaby

Jerry never really meant to run away

Jerry the Wallaby was always popular with the children at the Copenhagen after-school centre where he lives - but he was sometimes just a little aloof.

Not any more.

He can see that we are people to help him - and he is not lonely

After-school carer Arefa Dauti

After two months on the run in November and December, it is a different kind of Jerry that greets the 120 children attending the Gavlhus centre every afternoon.

"Before we could not touch him, or only when he was running," says carer Arefa Dauti.

"Now we can touch him and feed him. When you talk to him, he looks at you, and wants to come near you."

Jerry bounded out of the centre on 2 November, after someone forgot to close his cage.

Tranquiliser dart

He was then spotted at intervals in the Broenshoej neighbourhood of the city, but no-one could ever catch him - he was too fast.

There were fears that he would starve to death, or be hit by a car.

Then on 3 January, a vet got close enough to shoot him with a tranquiliser dart.

For a week now Jerry has been enjoying regular meals again, and living in heated accommodation with good company - four horses, a pig, a dog, rabbits and tropical birds.

"He can see that we are people to help him. And he is not lonely," says Ms Dauti.

She says Jerry, who has been living at the centre since 2000, never had any real desire to escape.

Neighbours saw him return to the school only hours after he left, but by that time the door was closed and he was unable to get back in.

More than two months later, Jerry is even more glad to be home.