Has anyone seen my wallaby?

Understandably perhaps not a question often asked here in France where the most usual "lost" signs when it comes to domestic pets, would be for a missing moggy or a peripatetic pooch.

But for Franck Giroussin the fate of his wallaby, Eora, has become a cause for concern, especially as a cold spell hits large parts of the country including his "habitat" in the southwest of France.

Unlike the Xertigny crocodile, the case of Eora involves a documented animal, who until September this year had been happily enjoying life in his enclosure in the village of Ambax (population just 69 - people that is) in southwestern département of Haute Garonne.

Since heeding the call of the wild and grasping his chance to break free, the missing marsupial has been spotted on a couple of occasions.

The first time was in Espaon just 15 kilometres away when two elderly women apparently saw "a kangeroo in a field" but kept the information to themselves for fear of appearing ridiculous.

And then a few days ago Eora made another appearance - this 19 time kilometres from his home base on the edge of a forest in the town of Rieumes.

Hardly a huge distance for the one-metre macropod which can "leap six metres in length and reach a top speed of 40 kilometres and hour," according to Giroussin.

He has alerted police, local authorities and vets in the area of the animals disappearance.

While Eora is certainly not aggressive and therefore presents no danger and won't bite anyone, he is apparently of a rather nervous disposition and not that easy to approach, let alone capture.

Which is why Giroussin has invested in a special rifle with a hypodermic tranquiliser as being "the only way to catch him" and urges anyone catching sight of the wallaby to contact him or the police directly.

Let's just hope that in a country in which hunting is still a very popular pastime in rural areas, someone won't mistakenly take a shot at Eora thinking they're bagging a more familiar animal.

An affair to follow.

Titi the croc - another French reptile tale

Police in the northern French town of Maubeuge found exactly what they were looking for when they raided the cellar of a squat last Friday.

For there, among the stolen stereo systems, scooters, and motorcycles was a vivarium.

No big deal you might be thinking, especially as it was only half full with water and pretty much hidden from view.

Except it contained a baby crocodile.

Even though drugs and illegal firearms were also found in the cellar, it was actually the croc the police were after.

They had reportedly got wind of its existence from children who had been paying regular visits to feed it with live fish.

Just as well perhaps that someone had been taking care of "Titi", as the baby reptile has been named, because the owner or owners of the croc hadn't apparently been looking after him.

His only company among all the stolen merchandise was 300 grammes of cannabis and €2,000 in cash - hardly an appropriate diet for a fast growing and hungry reptile.

Why exactly Titi was being kept in the cellar remains as much a mystery at the moment as the identity of the person or persons to whom he belongs.

But police have dismissed one story doing the rounds that his eventual fate would have seen him being used been to be used in combat in dog fights as a rumour.

For now Titi has been "released" from the confines of the cellar and taken to the zoo in Maubeuge, where he'll stay until a permanent home is found for him.

Ah the French and their croc stories.

Perhaps flushed with success, the police in Maubeuge could give their colleagues in the village of Xertigny in eastern France a hand.

Authorities there have been trying to hunt down a crocodile on the loose since June, and even though they've drained a local pond all they've came up with so far has been a 94-centimetre pike.

Where's the Xertigny crocodile?

Well it's certainly not in the village pond. That has been drained and the only beast of any notable variety found was a 94-centimetre pike.

You might remember the story (here) from last week; a crocodile on the loose in the village of Xertigny in eastern France.

Its two-hectare large pond has been the site of more-than-usual activity for the past week or so, ever since several local people stepped forward to say that they had seen a croc - reported to be about 1.5 metres in length.

The crocodile was apparently first spotted the weekend before last by an elderly man, who perhaps understandably kept quiet about it until several others stepped forward to say they too had seen it.

You might be forgiven for thinking that the croc was simply an hallucination or a figment of the imagination of the local folk.

But the authorities began to take the whole story a lot more seriously last week when those previous sightings were corroborated by the area's best and bravest in the form of a couple of fireman and a policeman.

Indeed on Wednesday last week one of the fireman apparently managed to get within a couple of metres of the beast before it slipped into the water and disappeared.

That led to local officials to call in the experts, set a trap for the reptile in the pond and basically keep their fingers crossed.

But the crocodile refused to cooperate, declining the tasty morsels positioned inside a cage for over a week and so the mayor, Véronique Marcot, decided to have the pond drained.

"We started emptying the pond at five o'clock in the morning (on Thursday), taking all the necessary precautions," said Marcot.

"But there was no crocodile, just a large pike," she added.

"I have to admit I'm a little disappointed, but at the same time somewhat relieved because the pond now has the all clear."

So one large pike (among others) plus around 200 kilogrammes of other assorted pond life, including carp, perch and crayfish but most significantly of course...no crocodile.

The pond will remain in its now current dry state for the next three months, "just in case" the illusive reptile should decide to return.

And the latest theory in the croc who seemingly enjoys a rather protracted game of hide-and-seek is that it has has done a runner, crossing a nearby forest and headed for another pond.

"Crocodile Dundee" needed in France

Hunting is still a pretty popular pastime in France, at least in rural parts of the country.

There's even a political party, Chasse, Pêche, Nature, Traditions (Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition, CPNT) which fielded candidates in the recent European parliamentary elections and whose leader, Frédéric Nihous, stood in the presidential election back in 2007, winning over 400,000 votes nationwide.

Deer, foxes, boars, rabbits, hares and birds are all fair game for what many still consider to be a "sport".

But this week in the village of Xertigny in the eastern department of Vosges, the hunt has been on for quite a different kind of creature - a crocodile.

It was apparently first spotted by an 82-year old man last weekend, but not wanting to be thought to be a little doolally by the rest of the folk in the area he reportedly kept quiet about what he thought he had seen.

Since then though, several other people stepped forward to say they too had seen it and the local authorities began to take the sightings seriously.

A plan has been put in place to try to capture the beast with a trap being set up in a large pond on the outskirts of the village.

The services of the fire brigade, police and officials from l'Office de la chasse et de la faune sauvage were also called upon, and according to reports in the local press they were within two metres of the animal on Wednesday morning as it lay on the banks of the pond.

But then it did what crocodiles supposedly do best, slipped into the water and disappeared out of sight.

So the beast, measuring around 1.5 metres in length is still on the loose

And local officials are now thinking about calling in a specialist team from the nearby city of Metz to try to help them out in their attempts to catch the reptile alive and have it transported to a crocodile farm almost 400 kilometres away in Pierrelatte in southeastern France or have it killed.

At this point you might be wondering how the crocodile came to be on the loose in the first place.

Well for the moment that remains a mystery, although a local farmer is reported to have seen a van around two weeks ago on the banks of the pond where the croc "could have been thrown into the water".