Credit: Victoria Police

Australian man Matthew Newbould, 33, said he spontaneously made the “very silly” decision to steal the beloved ornament — named Garry — from the garden of a retirement village in Melbourne.

Garry was tracked down after a member of the public took a photo of the stolen gorilla in the back of Newbould’s vehicle and sent it to police, The Guardian reports.

To make matters worse, Newbould was also disqualified from driving at the time.

He will be sentenced for theft at Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court later this month.

Garry the Gorilla is apparently unrelated to Gary the Gorilla, a giant gorilla statue stolen in Scotland and recovered earlier this year.