STATEN ISLAND — The kangaroo found hopping around a Staten Island parking lot during a bid for freedom has died at an animal sanctuary and zoo in New Jersey.
The 1 1/2-year old marsupial, named Foster, died Friday from the disease toxoplasmosis — caused by a parasite found in cats — at the Popcorn Park Zoo where he had been living since escaping from a private home on Staten Island in November, the Staten Island Advance first reported.
In a posting on its Facebook page, Popcorn Park said Foster was diagnosed with the disease when he came to the Forked River zoo and was responding well to treatment until he took a turn for the worse last week.
"He responded well to initial treatments and seemed to be on the road to recovery. This past Thursday, however, his health took a sudden turn and, after a day of intensive supportive care, poor Foster succumbed to the disease," the zoo wrote on Facebook.
"He will be greatly missed; it was easy to become quickly attached to his gentle manner and loving personality."
A manager at the zoo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Foster made headlines in October after workers at Alb's Auto Repair, at 1305 Travis Ave., noticed him hopping around after escaping from a neighbor's animal menagerie.
"He looked like a deer at first," Urim Osmani, co-owner of the shop, told DNAinfo New York at the time. "You don't expect to see something like that. It was just running around like crazy."
The 121 pct. always gets its man...I mean kangaroo yes this did happen today! #statenisland #NYPDnews pic.twitter.com/N7V5S6ALhT
— NYPD 121st Precinct (@NYPD121Pct) October 18, 2015
Foster busted out of the front yard of Giovanni Schirripa, two doors down on Victory Boulevard — the same place a miniature pony and zebra escaped from in 2012.
After Foster's escape, Schirripa was worried he would break free again and get injured and donated him to the New Jersey spot, the zoo said on Facebook in November.
Foster was a red kangaroo, native to Australia, which is the largest of all marsupials, the zoo wrote. He would've grown to about 6 foot and nearly 600 pounds.
