Stolen Koalas Returned Safely to San Francisco Zoo

Acting on an anonymous tip early Thursday, San Francisco police recovered two female koalas that had been stolen from the city’s zoo the day before and restored them to their ecstatic keepers.

Hours later, two teenagers were arrested and charged in the case. Police said the youths, ages 17 and 15, apparently hoped to present the cuddly marsupials to their girlfriends as belated Christmas offerings.

“They wanted them as little love gifts,” said Jim Deignan, a San Francisco Police Department spokesman.

The boys, whose names were not released because they are juveniles, have been charged with burglary, grand theft and possession of stolen property. All of the charges are felonies, Deignan said. They remain in police custody.

At the zoo, the two marsupials--a 14-year-old female named Pat and her daughter Leanne, 7--were “stressed, stiff and extremely hungry” but appeared generally all right, a spokeswoman said.

Zoo officials had been particularly concerned about Pat because she is elderly and has an infected eye and a growth that her keepers believe may be cancerous.

But after a meal of eucalyptus buds and a thorough exam by a zoo veterinarian, “Pat raced right over to her favorite tree and has been sleeping in it ever since,” said Woody Peterson, an animal management assistant at the zoo who was fielding dozens of calls Thursday from reporters and others concerned about the creatures.

Some of the calls came from as far away as Australia, the koalas’ native land, Peterson said.

The koalas, who weigh about 11 pounds, lost a pound or so each, the spokeswoman said, possibly because their young captors couldn’t get them to eat or didn’t know what to feed them. Koalas require a specialized diet; they eat only eucalyptus buds, which are also their main source of water. They have no body fat, which makes them extremely sensitive to temperature changes.

The animals were discovered to be missing Wednesday morning. Zoo officials said it appeared that someone had climbed onto the exhibit’s roof, broken a skylight and slipped in through a furnace door during the night.

Deignan said an anonymous call at 1 a.m. Thursday directed police to a home in the Visitation Valley neighborhood in the southeastern part of the city. When the owner opened the door, the officers, who were accompanied by zoo officials, saw the animals in a hallway.

The koalas arrived back at the zoo about 4 a.m. and were soon back in the enclosure they share with five other koalas, Peterson said.

“We’re just thrilled to have them back,” she said.