A YOUNG wallaby hand reared by staff at a Portland community farm has been reintroduced to her family.

Three-month-old Bindi had a spring in her step as she hopped around the wallaby enclosure at Fancy’s Farm last week.

The joey is once again living alongside her mother, grandmother and another young wallaby.

Bindi had previously been looked after by the farm’s owners, Su and Jon Illsley.

She was originally removed from the group in June after Jon noticed she had been pushed away by the group’s male wallabies.

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 took the decision to hand rear Bindi at her home and bottle feed her.

Su said: "We split up the males a couple of weeks ago so the risk from the males was minimised.

"She had become more and more independent. She didn't want the bottle. She didn't want the milk.

"She's turned back into a wallaby rather than a humanised wallaby."

Bindi previously stayed in Su and Jon's living room but had free roam of the house when the couple's dogs were at the farm.

Su said: "It was wonderful. It was a great experience and obviously if the need arises we would do it again.

"I could have kept her for the next six months but that's not the best thing for her.

"The best thing for the animal is to be with her own kind and that's where she is."

Bindi has become a popular attraction at the farm and has been taken on trips on and off the island.

As well as visiting shops, Bindi has even had a holiday in Cornwall, visiting Flambards amusement park and the Cornish Seal Sanctuary.

Bindi was often transported in a donated baby sling, which acted as a surrogate pouch.

Su said: "Those two months we have been rearing her have given her the rest of her life.

"If we had left her in that field she would have been killed or she would have died because (the other wallabies) wouldn't have let her eat."