NEW YORK — Animal Care Centers of NYC gets an occiasional pig, goat or cow between the thousands of dogs and cats it takes in every year. But this odd guest was new.

A six-month-old wallaby named Howie was the first of his kind to come into the rescue organization’s care earlier this month.

The 15-pound marsupial came from someone who got him as a gift but lacked enough space to take care of him, ACC said in a May 1 Facebook post. The organization said he was shipped off to the Bronx Zoo.

Howie reportedly got some tender treatment and a fruit snack at ACC’s East Harlem shelter before getting to his final destination.

“As with any animal, whether it’s a dog or cat or a wallaby from Australia, we do our best to make the animal not feel scared,” Mike Salmond, the shelter’s manager, told the New York Daily News. “So after we fed him we put a sheet over the crate to make him feel comfortable.”

Howie and other marsupials like him are illegal to keep as pets in New York City. He was expected to be quarantined for 30 days at the Bronx Zoo so his health could be examined, according to the Daily News.

“The Bronx Zoo considered this situation to be an animal welfare issue and agreed to take the wallaby because it has the resources and expertise to provide for the animal’s needs,” zoo Director Jim Breheny told the paper. “The situation with this animal is a classic example of why exotic animals do not make good pets.”