Australian Police Chase Kangaroo At Melbourne Airport Parking Garage (VIDEO)

A rogue kangaroo gave police the slip for several hours in Australia Monday, after getting loose within a parking garage at Melbourne Airport.

Australian police chased the kangaroo for about two hours after it was spotted by travelers around 7 a.m., but they were unable to catch the wild animal, the Herald Sun reports. Ultimately, the authorities enlisted a wildlife rescue officer to tranquilize and transport the 3-year-old eastern grey kangaroo to safety.

"Judging by his nail wear he's been hopping around on bitumen for quite a while," wildlife officer Manfred Zabinskas told Reuters in a video clip.

Looking at the kangaroo's feet, Zabinskas said the hours-long chase "certainly did some damage." The kangaroo will be held in captivity and examined before he's released back into the wild.

Surprisingly, this is not the first time in recent months that a kangaroo has led Australian police on a lively chase in the Melbourne Airport parking garage. In October, a wildlife officer was called in to tranquilize and catch another kangaroo that hopped up to the fifth floor of the parking complex, the Australian Associated Press reported.

The grey kangaroo is fastest of its kind, with the ability to reach speeds up to 70 kilometers per hour (about 43 mph), according to the World Wildlife Fund. The main threats to kangaroos in the area are habitat loss, altered fire regimes, introduced predators and climate change.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misidentified the name of Australia's Herald Sun.