Roger the ripped kangaroo, a kickboxing marsupial who sprang into the public consciousness when a 2015 photo of him crushing a metal bucket went viral, has died, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. He was 12.
The kangaroo died of natural causes at The Kangaroo Sanctuary in Alice Springs, Australia.
"We have lost our beautiful boy," Chris Barns, the owner of the wildlife sanctuary, said in a statement. "He lived a lovely long life and was loved by millions around the world."
Roger stood 6-foot-7 and weighed nearly 200 pounds.
He was rescued as a 5-month-old joey in 2007 after his mother was killed in a car accident, the BBC reported. Barns removed Roger from his mother's pouch.
"I rescued him out of his dead mother, 25 kilometers north of Alice Springs, when I was out patrolling the roads checking roadkill," Barns told ABC. "I used to call him Roger Rabbit because he looked like Roger Rabbit with these big ears that flopped over the top. And then that just became Roger as he got older."
Roger became an internet sensation when images of him crushing a metal bucket between his paws like it was a piece of paper went viral, the BBC reported.
"Roger was as muscular as they come," Barns told the network. "Ever since he was featured on TV and clips went viral, there's been a lot of love and attention for him.”
Roger was buried at The Kangaroo Sanctuary, ABC reported.
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