Jack, the two-year-old runaway, was spotted leaping through the streets of Fort Lauderdale last Thursday, prompting people to alert the police.

“There’s a kangaroo hopping around on Andrews between 13th and 16th,” one caller said, according to the Sun Sentinel newspaper.

“Seriously. I know you probably think I’m crazy but everyone was stopping and looking and almost hitting it and I don’t want it to get hit.”

Police showed up and managed to get the animal in the back of a cruiser.

Body-cam footage shows the officers gingerly grabbing the animal from behind and slipping a red leash around his neck.

“We actually captured the kangaroo,” one officer says as he radios in the arrest, as colleagues chuckle and pet the animal.

They later took Jack to a stable for police horses.

Jack’s owner, identified as Anthony Macias, said the animal lived at his house with his Corgi Max.

“They love each other,” he told the Sun Sentinel. “They play and run around.”

Male kangaroos can grow up to Two metres and weigh 91 kilograms. In Fort Lauderdale people are not allowed to keep the animals as pets.

So Macias was charged Tuesday with three misdemeanours.

“One for allowing the escape of the kangaroo and one for having no records of acquisition of the kangaroo, and one infraction for not having a license to possess the kangaroo,” said Carol Lyn Parish of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.

She said the roo had been transferred to a temporary facility until his forever home can be found.

Macias faces 60 days in jail and a fine of up to US$500 if convicted.