HATTON, N.D. – A Traill County deputy is skeptical a kangaroo was running loose here this week after supposed sightings sent wranglers, with the help of another kangaroo, in search of the wayward marsupial.

Deputy Conrad Steinhaus said Wednesday he has heard the rumors of a stray kangaroo hopping around Hatton but doubted their veracity, saying he knows the man who claims to have spotted the kangaroo around town.

"It would not surprise me," he said, if the man was playing a practical joke. Steinhaus declined to name the individual.

The Traill County Sheriff's Department had not received any official reports of a roo on the run as of Wednesday afternoon.

"I have nothing to verify there is or is not a kangaroo," Steinhaus said.

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Deputies had not started any search efforts for the rumored roo.

The same cannot be said of an Emerado couple, who own a kangaroo named Leo.

Leo was hauled to Hatton in an effort to lure out the rumored kangaroo this week.

The Emerado residents got Leo from a Northwood woman in late 2010, who had bought the joey at an auction in Missouri.

The kangaroo, now about 5 years old, could be seen in a horse trailer at its Emerado home Wednesday, ready to be taken to Hatton by his owner, Scott Schmitt, if word arrived of another sighting.