Ananova:

Britain's rare wild wallaby is believed to have become extinct.

The red-necked wallabies of the Peak District are thought to have finally been killed off as a result of human disturbance.

The small kangaroo-like animals were the only marsupials at large in Europe and have lived and bred on the Peaks since being turned out of a zoo 60 years ago.

Dr Derek Yalden, a Manchester University zoologist who studied the wallabies, says last winter only two females were left and thinks the population might have now died out completely.

Ten wallabies were part of a private collection belonging to Captain Courney Brocklehurst, a Staffordshire landowner, killed in the Second World War.

War regulations meant his exotic animal collection at his home, Roaches House near Buxton, had to be disposed of and the wallabies were turned loose on the moors.

The red-necked wallaby, Macropus rufogriseus, is a native of Tasmania.

The animals lived on heather on the peaks and hid in bracken during the day. Since the late 1980s their numbers have steadily declined.

"There are too many people and dogs and a lot of road casualties," Dr Yalden said.