Police in south-east Australia are baffled by the body of a koala that was dumped with $50 in its mouth outside of a police station last weekend.
Using nighttime as a disguise, an unknown party dumped the dead koala in the driveway of a police station in Heywood, Victoria state on Saturday, the Associated Press reported. There was no note- only the money that was rolled up in the dead marsupial's mouth.
"We don't know what the message is," Sergeant Jason Von Tunk, who made the morbid discovery, told Fairfax radio according to the AP. "Why $50, I don't know. I'm at a loss to explain why this happened."
Von Tunk said he was alone at the station Saturday night when he heard a loud thud come from outside.
"I put my torch on it, and I saw it was a koala," Tunk told the radio station. "It made me shiver, I thought what's this about, and I thought I was getting set up- the old put a dead koala out in the middle of the driveway situation, and then get ambushed.
"All sorts of things go through your head," he added.
Police do not know for sure what killed the koala, which is native to Australia and often mistakenly called a bear. Wounds on the animal's head indicate it could have been killed by accident.
"We've had a good look at it and discounted any cruelty issues...it could have possibly been run over by a car," Von Tunk said according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Police logged the $50 into the station's property book. The victim has since been buried.
