ISLAND FALLS, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Maine and Australia do not have much in common. Northern Maine is dotted with potato fields, and Australia is mostly desert land. However, there is one thing both places have in common, wallabies.
Jay Batchelder and Michelle Charette are the owners of a wallaby named Kingston. They got Kingston in New Jersey and they said a couple of days after they brought him back to Maine, game wardens showed up at their house asking if they had a permit. The couple said they did not know that they needed a permit when they bought Kingston.
Batchelder said the biggest problem they have been having in trying to get a permit is convincing the state that they have found a rabies vaccine for Kingston. Batchelder said the couple has a vet who has a rabies vaccine to give to Kingston, but the state is not convinced it will work.
"The state's telling me now that it's not a proven vaccine. That there hasn't been enough studies done on wallabies to actually say that it's gonna work," Batchelder said.
The Commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said the couple was initially denied a permit but now there is a review process underway to see if they can get a permit for Kingston. The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has a list of what animals do and do not require a permit. Here is a link to that website: http://www.maine.gov/ifw/wildlife/species/unrestricted_species.htm