Wallabies are getting stoned on Tasmania's opium poppy crops and hopping about in circles, authorities say.
"The one interesting bit that I found recently in one of my briefs on the poppy industry was that we have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," Attorney-general Lara Giddings told a budget estimates meeting.
"Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high," The Mercury newspaper quoted her as saying.
Tasmanian Alkaloids field operations manager Rick Rockliff said wildlife and livestock which ate the poppies were known to "act weird".
"There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles," Mr Rockliff said.
Tasmania is the world's largest producer of opium for the pharmaceutical market.
About 500 farmers grow the crop, supplying about 50% of the world's raw material for morphine and related opiates.
Ms Giddings was answering questions about the security of Tasmania's poppy stocks, which are considered some of the safest in the world.
