Wallabies have been roaming wild in the island since the 1970s.

The red-necked variety, that have become naturalised to the island, normally inhabit the area around the Curraghs and wetland areas, but recently have been spotted further afield with sightings in Ramsey, Laxey and even Onchan.

The Manx Wildlife Trust are looking at trying to develop a way to manage and help protect the island’s population which it estimates is now into four figures.

We took to the streets to ask people their thoughts on the distant relative of the kangaroo.

Mike Cook, 23, feels they should be protected because there’s not many of them.

’I saw one a couple of years ago. There’s a place which I can’t remember where it was, or maybe I do and it’s a secret. It was down some little lane, and then we stopped.

’You see them at night, well we only saw them at night, and it came and jumped in front of the car.’

John and Dee Struthers, from Onchan, believe that they need to be controlled and properly monitored in the island.

John said: ’There’s no natural predator for wallabies therefore I think there should be some humane logical way of looking after them.

’Something like dolphin watch would be a good idea.

’That would catch them earlier if they were marauding through people’s gardens or maybe causing problems on highways and byways early in the morning and going to work and that.’

Dee added: ’I’m sort of in the middle of that one.

’Because it’s quite nice that they’re out there in the wild but at the same time, I understand the fact that they would need to look after them, and a way of looking after them is protecting them, so I’m in the middle.’

Dean McClure, 54, thinks that they’re a good thing for the island and a bit of a curiosity and he too has seen a wallaby.

He said: ’Last week on Tuesday me and my kids went up to the Wildlife Park and when we were there we went round and we actually saw two wallabies.

’I think it was a mother and baby. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen the wallabies over here in the wild.

’So they were actually in the walk bit that you can go around, so they were actually in that part of the Wildlife Park.

’I don’t know if they can come and go from there, I presume they can because there’s no enclosures around it.

’Tracking them is fine, but I wouldn’t want anyone to harm them, it would be a shame. I would hope no one would be shooting them or anything like that.

’I think they’re a good thing, they’re a curiosity.

’You think they’re only going to be in Oceania and Australia and when you say we’ve got wallabies over here people are surprised they’re running wild.’

Brian and Sheila Kelly, from Glen Vine, think they should be left alone to roam.

Sheila said: ’I think we should just leave them to it, we need to keep an eye on them though.’

Brian agreed and added: ’I don’t think they need to be protected, just leave them alone.

’Let them do what they naturally do, they’re not hurting anybody.

’As far as I’m aware they don’t destroy crops or anything like that.

’There’s a couple of hundred at the moment and I’m driving round there all the time and I’ve never seen one.’