Grubby, an iconic opossum who hitchhiked to Alaska on a shipping container, died at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage on Saturday. The female possum was about 3 ½ years old when she died due to complications of old age, according to a Tuesday statement from the zoo. A opossum's average lifespan in the wild is up to two years.
The zoo’s executive director Tristan Thon was involved in Grubby's relocation.
“I think we saw an opportunity, not only to give her a second chance, but to also educate people. I think it was an easy decision for us. The zoo exists to provide a home for animals in need, and that's what she was,” Thon said.
The Virginia opossum, who zoo staff called Ophelia, was found in spring 2023 in a shipping container that arrived in Homer from Washington state. The marsupial roamed the Kenai Peninsula town’s streets for over a month.
Grubby was considered invasive because opossums don’t live in Alaska.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game wanted her dead, but Grubby fans launched the hashtag #FreeGrubby on social media. A Homer resident made T-shirts that say “nothing is im-possum-ble.” Local businesses offered discounts if you mentioned the visitor’s name.
After biting an officer in the hand, she was eventually taken into custody by the Homer Police Department in March 2023. Grubby then became a resident at the Alaska Zoo.
Within the last year of her life, Thon said Grubby began connecting with zookeepers.
“That was so special to see, because I know she had been through so much. And really, when we see an animal be able to make that transition, it's special because you know that they're more comfortable," Thon said.
The first person at the Alaska Zoo on Wednesday was there to honor Grubby – with baby pink flowers that matched the marsupial’s nose.
Allison Phillips was a huge fan of Grubby. She moved from Alaska to the East Coast in 2020, and learned about the bandit through a social media post from the Homer Police Department.
“I love all animals, but I am a little particular of trash animals. So it's, kind of this weird – I hope she gets caught, but I don't hope she gets caught. I was just really invested in her as a whole, and then when I found out she had babies, oh my gosh, then the whole thing started over again,” Phillips said.
Sometime during her stay in Homer, Grubby had babies, called joeys. Biologists worried that if the opossum’s kids weren’t captured, they’d start breeding and establish a population in Alaska. Five of the joeys were caught. Grubby’s son, now named Homer, lives at the Oregon Zoo.
Grubby is named after Grubstake Avenue, near the local police station, where the opossum had been seen roaming.
Phillips now lives in Maryland, where she said she frequently sees opossums run over on the side of the road. She said she’s grateful that wasn’t Grubby’s fate.
“It was just so cool that that was her outcome, like her outcome wasn't they found her frostbitten in Homer,” she said. “Her outcome was that she had fans, and she was loved by the staff at the zoo.”
