California

CHP Responds to Reports of a Kangaroo on Oakland Freeway, Finds a Raccoon, Then a Fawn Instead

First it was a kangaroo, then a raccoon and finally a fawn.

The California Highway Patrol received several calls early Wednesday of a dead kangaroo on Interstate Highway 580 near the Oakland Zoo. After going to the scene, officers determined the animal was in fact not a kangaroo but a raccoon, and later, found a fawn on the opposite side of the road. 

The animal was reported in the roadway of Highway 580 near Golf Links Road, just down the hill from the Oakland Zoo.

The CHP Oakland Twitter account clarified shortly after noon, saying "Reports of a kangaroo on I-580 were false. Said marsupial was actually an enormous raccoon."[[438196243, C]]

The account later tweeted that a fawn was removed shortly afterward from the other side of the highway in the area.

“If you’re driving down the freeway and you see something this big, with the Oakland Zoo so close, it’s easy to make the connection,” said CHP officer, Matthew Hamer in a report from SF Gate. 

Oakland Zoo spokeswoman Erin Harrison noted that the zoo does not have any kangaroos in its exhibits, but does have a group of wallaroos, a smaller marsupial.

"I checked with animal management, all of our wallaroos are accounted for," Harrison said.

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