AN ORPHANED baby wallaby is being hand reared on Portland after being shunned by other members of her group.

Su and Jon Illsley, owners of Fancy’s Farm, took the decision after noticing the joey had been pushed aside by others in the farm’s wallaby enclosure.

Jon made the discovery on Sunday morning whilst carrying out a routine check.

Su said: “She was being pushed away from the group by the males.

“There’s nothing wrong with her. Maybe the mother has another joey in the pouch already. Who knows?

“It means I’m going to be ‘mum’.

"I haven’t done night feeds in 18 years. Hopefully, she will settle down. It’s just getting her used to the bottle.”

The joey, approximately two months old, will be bottle fed for the next six months.

Su is currently using a baby sling, donated by one of the farm’s supporters, to act as a surrogate pouch for the joey to rest in.

She said: “I rang our exotic animals vet on Monday, just to let him know what’s happening, just to make sure he’s aware there’s a hand reared wallaby in his practice.”

Wallabies have lived on the farm for the past two and a half years. They roam in a pen at the front of the farm.

Su said people driving past the farm often slow down to stop and stare. She said: “The wallabies would have caused lots of car crashes if we were on a main road.

“We tell people they are giant Portland jumping mice.”

Su said they still hadn’t decided upon a name for the joey but they were open to suggestions.

Names already taken by other wallabies on the site include Sheila, Matilda and Shrimp.

Despite her young age, the joey has already had her first experience outside the gates of Fancy’s Farm.

Su said: “I did walk around Tesco with her. They said: ‘What’s that in your bag?’ I said: ‘It’s a wallaby.’

“It says ‘No Dogs’ but it doesn’t say ‘No Wallabies’.”

Fancy’s Farm is a community farm run by volunteers.

Entry is free but the farm relies on donations to help keep care of the wide variety of animals on site.

The farm will be taking part in this weekend’s Open Farm Sunday event (June 7), a national event designed to inform people what it means to be a farmer. For more information, please visit farmsunday.org