Authorities are searching for a rogue quokka spotted at a Canning Vale waste facility after escaping Rottnest Island on a rubbish barge.
People have been asked to keep their eyes peeled for the marsupial, with Rottnest Island Authority offering a free trip to the holiday island if anyone can assist with its capture.
![Authorities are searching for a quokka who escaped Rottnest Island on a rubbish barge.](/web/20170115165248im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/j/7/z/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtq15g.png/1484266450200.jpg)
Rottnest Island environment officer Shane Kearney said the animal likely hitched a ride on the island's rubbish barge, which docks at Fremantle, and was then transferred with the rubbish onto a truck bound for the Regional Resource Recovery Centre in Canning Vale.
A worker at the facility reportedly spotted the quokka on January 4 and took a photo of it.
"I would say the travel over [to the mainland] was probably really stressful for it because it does go in compactor bins," Mr Kearney told Radio 6PR.
"There is a lot of food around [the RRRC] and there is a lot of bushland and a golf course nearby and there's lots of bandicoots that live around there.
"It's probably in a foreign habitat and missing its mates."
But it now looks like the quokka's dash may mean it never gets to see its 10,000 furry friends on Rottnest Island again due to biosecurity concerns.
"The Department of Parks and Wildlife will take the lead on it, if the quokka is sighted they will go down and capture it and get it vet-checked and that sort of thing and find a happy home for it potentially at a wildlife park or the zoo," Mr Kearney said.
"I don't know what he's picked up or what he's been in contact with, that's just an unknown and that's a precautionary principal - we tend to follow that."
Anyone who spots the quokka is asked to call DPaW on 9494 9055.