CANASTOTA, N.Y. (AP) – Bandit’s life on the lam is over.

The Australian wallaroo was found dead on a central New York highway Sunday, nearly two months after going missing from a central New York wildlife educator’s barn.

Owner Jeff Taylor says Bandit was hit by a car or truck. Troopers couldn’t say when the 3-foot-tall animal was killed. Maintenance workers found the animal’s carcass on the New York Thruway just a few hundred yards from his barn in Canastota, 20 miles east of Syracuse.

The search for Bandit attracted national attention and headlines in Australia. Taylor had been planning to include the wallaroo – a large species of kangaroo – as part of a petting zoo. Taylor believes someone went on his property in April and let Bandit out.