Church Hill-- People are likely to do a double take when they see Evelyn Engelke out shopping or opening her hymnal at church. It's not Mrs. Engelke they're looking at, but her choice of accessories. Not many people carry around a baby wallaby in a handmade, quilted pouch hanging from their neck.
A baby wallaby, or joey, is quite a conversation piece. But Evelyn Engelke likes it that way. There's nothing she enjoys more than talking about her passion -- hand-raising these miniature kangaroos at her family's home, God's Gift Farm, on the Eastern Shore.
"What I do," she explains, "is take the joey away from the mama as early as possible [at eight to 10 months]. Then I raise them myself. I make a little pouch, which I hang around my neck, and the baby goes everywhere with me. To the mall, shopping, anywhere I go. They think of me as their mother."
Exotic pets have become increasingly popular with animal lovers in the United States. For the home where dogs, cats, fish or birds just aren't enough, how about a Vietnamese potbellied pig, ferret or hedgehog? These animals have all been touted as unusual pet fads in recent years.
It remains to be seen if wallabies will join the list, although there are already at least 350 breeders raising various species of miniature roos, and estimates are that as many as 1,000 U.S. families own one.
"We're not the only ones on the Shore with exotics," Mrs. Engelke points out, using the accepted nomenclature for
non-native species. "There's another couple in Queenstown with white wallabies, and there are people who raise ostriches and emus around here."
The Bennett's Red Neck Wallaby, the species Mrs. Engelke raises, is definitely not your average domestic companion. They need big pens and room to graze. They grow to be nearly 3 feet tall and weigh up to 50 pounds. And even the smallest wallabies are strong enough to do serious damage when they feel threatened.
But if you've got the affection, the time, the space and the energy, Evelyn Engelke may have the exotic pet you've dreamed about. "Wallabies aren't for everyone," the 45-year-old breeder cautions. "No exotic species is."
Miniature animals have been a lifelong interest for Mrs. Engelke, who lives on the farm with her 56-year-old husband, Tom, a Methodist minister and personnel director for the city of Annapolis, and her 16-year-old daughter, Lauren, a junior at Queen Anne's County High School.
