A zoo in Germany that just welcomed a newborn albino kangaroo says the critter has gone missing. Mila, the snow-white kangaroo baby, was born in the zoo last month. Now, officials are reaching out to the public for help in locating the ivory-furred bundle of joy.
Back in July, the Kaiserslautern Zoo proudly announced the arrival of an adorable new resident.
“Our Monja, an albino bennett kangaroo, has passed on her genes and thus the Kaiserslautern zoo now has two white kangaroo,” read a Facebook post welcoming Mila.
However, on Thursday, August 20, the zoo had sad news about the newborn kangaroo.
“Our little star disappeared without a trace yesterday,” zoo director Matthias Schmitt said in a statement.
Searching For Mila
Mila was last seen at the zoo around 10 am the previous day, when a guest and her granddaughter saw the joey peering out from her mom’s pouch. However, when zoo officials locked the zoo up later that evening, Mila was nowhere to be found.
“Normally, Mila wouldn’t stray far from [her] mother so that [she] could have been captured. Since we couldn’t find [her] anywhere, we had two hunters and two search dogs in action today — unfortunately without success,” said Schmitt. “Mila disappeared without a trace.”
The zoo previously noted that albino kangaroos generally don’t survive long in the wild, as their color makes them easy for predators to spot. However, zoo officials don’t believe that Mila was taken by a predator, as no traces of blood were discovered around the scene.
“So we have to assume that Mila was stolen,” said Schmitt. “That is why we have already reported to the police.”
Local authorities agree that it’s likely the albino kangaroo was stolen from the zoo. “We’re investigating in all directions,” police said, according to ABC News. “We can’t rule out that she was stolen.”
The zoo is now asking the public to contact police with any information on little Mila’s whereabouts.
“The whole team at the zoo is hoping Mila will be found again and is in good health,” said Schmitt.
