A desert bighorn sheep that escaped from the Los Angeles zoo died after being hit by a car Saturday.

KTLA reported that the animal wandered from the zoo at about noon and traveled through to the northern and then southern stretches of Griffith Park before it ended up in a Los Feliz neighborhood.

One resident, who was leaving his home, reported the sheep to 911 and saw the animal rest its head in bushes until authorities came. 

The animal eluded the response team for some time, but the authorities were able to tranquilize it. However, the sheep eventually died.

Authorities said it was injured from a hit-and-run during its wanderings, but a necropsy was scheduled for Sunday.

"She rested ... in one of the neighbor's driveways. Our vets were able to tranquilize her, but she didn't survive," John Lewis, the director of the LA Zoo, told KTLA.

Zoo officials are stunned by the animal's escape because it had to clear and eight-foot-high chain-link fence that was also topped with barbed wire.

NBC Los Angeles reported that the sheep died at about 3 p.m. and was one of five at the zoo.

The desert bighorn sheep is an endangered species and has been since 1998 because of loss of habitat and diseases from domestic sheep and cattle.

The National Park Services said there are a total of 13,000 in the country.

The sheep are mostly found in the desert mountains of eastern California, much of Nevada, northwestern Arizona, and southern Utah. They like steep and rocky areas in order to hide from predators and are able to move around cliff faces easily. They are also able to maneuver footholds barely two inches wide.

The zoo officials were upset by the loss of the sheep.

"We don't like our animals to get injured. They're supposed to stay in their habitats and be safe," Lewis told KTLA. "So we're pretty upset."