Wallabies used instead of a lawnmower

16:05:20 13th May 2010

Gardeners have been urged to think about using a wallaby instead of storing a lawnmower in a garden shed and lugging it out every time the lawn needs cutting.

Mary Davies from Horsham, West Sussex, breeds the marsupials at Leonardslee gardens and claims the animals do a good job on the garden through grazing, reports the Telegraph.

She sells the animals for between £300 and £1,000 each depending on colour and gender. They have to be bought in pairs because wallabies like company.

Mrs Davies told the newspaper: "Wallabies work 24 hours a day, rain or shine. They get to places some lawnmowers cannot reach and they chew along banks as well."

She added that they cannot make stripes in the lawn but can keep it well grazed. Wallabies need at least an acre of land on which to graze.

There is a waiting list of customers who want to buy the small kangaroos for their own land. Mrs Davies bought a group of eight albino and nine grey Bennett's wallabies 15 years ago to prevent inbreeding at the gardens.

There has been an increase in demand for wallabies as an alternative to the lawn mower to keep paddocks, fields and large gardens trim.

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