JoJo the kangaroo's two-day vacation in the Mississippi bush is over after he was caught by police.
The one-year-old, a member of the Wild Acres mobile zoo, was visiting children at a Gulfport, Mississippi school on Wednesday when a sudden rainstorm startled him, he got loose and bounded away.
It sparked a huge community, police, media and social media effort to find JoJo in local bushland.
Wild Acres' Cody Breland told AAP Gulfport Police officer Chase Blackwell caught JoJo late on Friday ending the marsupial's "mini-vacation".
"There have been hundreds of people walking and driving the vicinity in search of JoJo," a thankful Mr Breland said.
The search generated the online hashtag #findjojo and a "Bring Jo Jo Home" Facebook page.
"JoJo is back home with his owner," Gulfport Police announced on Twitter.
"Thank you to everyone who assisted."
There was outrage among searchers when a Facebook user, Christian Lee, joked online he had found JoJo and cooked him in a stew.
His post included a photo of a kangaroo and a pot of stew.
"Found this guy on the side of the road on my way home from work today," Lee wrote.
"Didn't know we had kangaroos in Mississippi WTF?
"Me and the family ate good tonight tho."
Other Facebook users were not impressed.
"This is someone's very loved animal," one wrote.
"Don't be a jerk."
