LOVELAND (AP) – The list of exotic pets banned in Colorado is extensive. No chimpanzees, wildebeests, piranhas or raccoons, among others. But one Loveland man has found a loophole, and its name is Pogo.
Pogo is a 1-year-old red kangaroo, and he lives at Chris Jessen’s farmhouse near Loveland.
“When we first brought him in and you watch him hopping around with your kid, you kind of go, ‘Oh my god, there’s an actual kangaroo in the house.’ It’s pretty crazy,” Jessen said.
When he’s not bouncing about the living room, Pogo hangs out in a backyard pen with an 8-year-old wallaby named Micah. Jessen and his marsupials shares a 5-acre property with 30 exotic chickens, 10 “micro-miniature” cows that are about 3 feet tall, a donkey and three peacocks.
“This is my hobby,” he says. “Like knitting is for some people.”
Because kangaroos and wallabies can be legally owned in this state, Mark Caddy, a spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said his department has no way of tracking fluctuations in the state’s marsupial population.
“My suspicion is we don’t have very many of them, ” he says.
Pogo alone requires an expensive diet, a handmade diaper, a daily hour-long cuddle session on the couch with Jessen and a 6-foot-high fence to prevent escapes. His other pets get plenty of attention, too. His pet donkey, for example, loves to play Frisbee.
“He’s not an athlete, but he’ll fetch it,” he says.
While Jessen may be a shining example of proper exotic pet ownership, the state strongly discourages any reckless kangaroo adoption or purchase.
“The advice I’m going to give is that they better check into the care requirements and the space requirements first because there’s many,” Caddy said.
