Pour out a little putrefied carrion for Heidi the Cross-Eyed Opossum today, as she was put to sleep last night at her home zoo in Leipzig, Germany. I guess they finally found out she was Jewish. I kid, Germans, I kid. Anyway, you might be wondering how this is movie related. It’s not, really, but Heidi was the subject of one of Parry Gripp’s catchiest songs, so to me she was more important than the president. I’m hanging my cutest kittens calendar at half mast in her honor.
The Leipzig zoo said Wednesday that the marsupial had been listless and unable to move for several weeks. A decision was made to put the three-and-a-half-year-old animal to sleep following repeated attempts to treat her.
“How sad,” wrote Rene Schaaf, from Heidi’s home city of Leipzig. “This lovable creature enriched our daily lives, showing us that ‘imperfect’ can also be interesting and even beautiful.”
“…and not something to be locked in a dark room and gassed, contrary to what our grandparents taught us.” Again, I kid, Germans. Oh, Holocaust jokes. Is there anything funnier?
Heidi first attracted attention at the end of last year after she was featured on a local television report about the nocturnal enclosure where she spent her final days. A clip of the report went viral, giving rise to a fan page on Facebook that attracted more than 332,000 admirers from across the globe. [SeattlePI]
We’ll miss you, Heidi. But if this means Parry Gripp records a sad, acoustic version of “Heidi the Cross-Eyed Opossum,” your death will not have been in vain.
-Thanks to MJ for the tip