Wallaby hops into Cornish garden

The wallaby is believed to have escaped from a farm

The Beast of Bodmin could have a rival - a wallaby has been spotted making himself at home in the garden of a property in nearby St Breward.

The marsupial is believed to have escaped from a nearby farm.

Wallabies are well known escapees and experts think there are at least two colonies breeding in the UK.

Last year holidaymakers spotted a wallaby-like creature in woodland around Hessenford and Seaton in South East Cornwall.

The latest wallaby was spotted in Alan and Pam Balding's garden on Wednesday morning.

Crocodile alert

Mark Symonds, who keeps wallabies on his nearby St Endellion farm as an attraction, said he suspected it had escaped.

"Last Thursday one got out," he said. "We are about six miles away and we tried to catch it a couple of times.

"I've looked at the photographs and it's almost identical to the one that's here.

The so-called Beast of Bodmin was captured on video in 1998

"Hopefully we'll be able to catch it.

"They are a bit difficult to catch. They tend to put their heads down and go."

Basking sharks, wild boar and even a crocodile have been spotted in Cornwall in the past, but no beast has made as many headlines as the elusive Beast of Bodmin.

In August 1998 a 20-second video was released and was declared by some wild cat experts to be the best evidence yet that big cats roam Bodmin Moor.

There have been about 60 big cat sightings recorded in the area since 1983 but in 1995 a government report concluded there was no evidence that big cats existed on the moor.