A COUPLE from Cambridgeshire have a new family pet – a wallaby which took up residence two days after they moved in last November.

Jan Heathcote and her partner have moved to Warboys and she says having the wallaby in her back garden “just makes things idyllic.”

The story of how Jan and her family made the acquaintance of a wallaby had listeners gripped to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire as she told her story to Johnny Dee on the mid morning show with Andie Harper.

“We’ve named the wallaby Wilf and told the RSPCA about him,” she said. “They said he seemed happy and healthy and we should just keep any eye on him.”

Some days Wilf turns up for four hours and then returns in the evening and has regularly been spotted playing with the family cat.

RSPCA officials believe the wallaby has a burrow near their home.

Jan added: “We wanted a nice quiet home and that’s what we got. Wilf is welcome here anytime.”