ISLAND FALLS — A Maine woman who ran afoul of state law when she received a pet wallaby as a present says she is making arrangements to get the animal vaccinated against rabies and hopes state wildlife officials allow her to keep what has become a beloved member of her family.

Michelle Charette tells the Bangor Daily News  that the vaccine cannot be administered until mid-September, due to age restrictions.

The state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife at first denied Charette and her boyfriend, Jay Batchelder, permission to keep the animal indigenous to Australia that looks like a small kangaroo because it has not been approved for importation to Maine.

But the couple appealed and say they informed department officials they plan to get the wallaby they named Kingston vaccinated.