Baby kangaroo stolen from unlicensed Kentucky petting zoo

Photo from Facebook/Hillview Stables.

A 10-month-old baby kangaroo named Scooby-Doo has been stolen from Hillview Stables in London, Kentucky.

Hillview Stables is a roadside zoo that has kangaroos, camels, llamas, alpacas, goats, pigs and other animals. The facility offers a pumpkin patch, petting zoo, pony rides, birthday parties, weddings and more.

All of these activities are considered “exhibiting” and require a U.S. Department of Agriculture Class C license. USDA records indicate Hillview Stables' owner Rick Gregory is not licensed by the USDA.

A Hillview Stables employee was bottle feeding the kangaroo on Oct. 24 about three hours before he was stolen.

A photo taken at Hillview Stables on Sept. 4 shows a baby kangaroo still in its mother’s pouch.

Roadside zoos commonly steal baby animals from their mother and hand raise them because they believe it makes them tamer.

News sources indicate Hillview Stables' manager Angi Smith bottle fed the baby kangaroo around 5 p.m. Oct. 24 and then left Scooby-Doo in an unsecured area that visitors had access to after the business closed. When Smith returned to Hillview Stables about three hours later, the baby kangaroo and the pouch he was kept in were gone.

A social media post indicates Hillview Stables suspects someone came back to the farm after closing time and stole the kangaroo. The facility said they also had a pig stolen just two weeks before the kangaroo theft.

The facility said Scooby-Doo needs to be fed a special type of milk and if he’s fed any other type of milk he may get diarrhea and die.

The facility is offering a reward of $500 for the safe return of Scooby-Doo and $1,000 for the safe return of the kangaroo if the information provided leads to the arrest of the person who stole Scooby-Doo.