THE MAN PRESENTED  with a gift of a kangaroo at his 30th birthday party at a hotel in Dublin’s Liffey Valley denies it was given ecstasy and booze, the Irish Daily Star reports today.

Gardaí told the newspaper they were investigating an allegation that it was given alcohol, but added that there was no evidence it had.

The 30-year-old Clondalkin man whose party it was told the newspaper he had nothing to do with the kangaroo or wallaby being released.

To be honest, I didn’t have a clue it was coming. I wasn’t happy with it coming in because I thought the party would have been cancelled. It came in and it went back out and I’ve no idea where it went or where it came from. The police came down and said the thing was on drugs and everything – but no way was it after taking ecstasy and drink.

The manager of Circus Sydney, which is currently based in Lucan, said he did not supply a wallaby to the party. It is not known where the animal came from.

Gardaí and the DSPCA are still trying to establish what happened to the animal afterwards, following reports that it had died.

There was confusion about whether it was “escorted off the premises” by the hotel’s security staff, as was first claimed, or whether – as later report suggested – it had left by the time the security staff arrived.

Meanwhile the hotel where the incident took place – the Clarion at Liffey Valley – said it is “horrified” by what happened. The Irish Times reports that the hotel’s general manager, Garret Marrinan, said “we don’t condone it and we don’t think it is acceptable at all.”

In the video footage of the incident, which was shown on RTE news last night, a man can be seen pretending to perform a sex act on the terrified animal. It is not known what happened to the kangaroo after the incident.