Cathy Murphy and her sons Scott and Matthew saw the kangaroo in a neighbour’s front yard in Greenacre Crescent shortly after 8am.

‘‘My jaw dropped,’’ Ms Murphy said. ‘‘We live in suburbia. Fountain Gate is only two miles away.’’

The roo seemed unconcerned and uninjured but Ms Murphy was concerned it would injure itself or someone else by hopping out into the morning-peak traffic.

She called police but before they arrived, the roo hopped down the street and around the block.

Seventeen-year-old Scott followed, keeping at a safe distance so as not to scare the animal, but returned 10 minutes later to say he’d lost it.

The family and some of the neighbours searched the surrounding streets and found the roo.

The police turned up soon afterwards, along with a team of volunteers from Wildlife Victoria who netted and sedated the roo before taking it to an animal shelter.

Wildlife Victoria’s Amy Amato said they had received numerous calls about the roo. After being checked for injuries, the kangaroo, a female with a joey, was released the same afternoon.

Ms Murphy said that coincidentally the family had eaten kangaroo for the first time the night before.

‘‘When I rang my husband to tell him what had happened, he jokingly said, ‘You shouldn’t have called the cops, you should have called the butcher. That was bloody beautiful meat last night’.’’

Anyone seeing native wildlife in urban areas should call Wildlife Victoria on 1300 094 535.