Grant Sullivan's family cat Kobe went missing. Wellington Zoo found him, dead in an animal enclosure. It's the second cat zoo inhabitants have killed in the past year.

A week ago, Kobe the cat took a short walk from his home in Melrose Crescent into nearby Wellington Zoo.

Now, all that remains of him is his collar.

Kobe is one of two Melrose Crescent cats who have gone missing in the past year, only to turn up dead days later at Wellington Zoo.

SUPPLIED Kobe "was a bit of a character," dad Grant Sullivan said.

Exactly how the pair of moggies died doesn't bear thinking about, but it is heartbreaking nonetheless, both owners said.

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Wellington Zoo chief executive Karen Fifield confirmed the two cats were found dead on the zoo's site, and empathised with their owners.

STUFF Logan Sullivan (14) named their family cat Kobe after the famous NBA namesake, which snuggled Paige Sullivan (9) at night, but it was recently found dead at a Wellington Zoo animal enclosure.

"We're animal people, and we know that people love their pets. We feel terrible for the people who this happened to," she said.

Kobe the cat was "obviously killed by one of the animals" but Fifield didn't want to go into too much detail.

"It wasn't in with a pygmy marmoset for example," she said.

STUFF The Sullivan's family cat Kobe went missing - Wellington Zoo found him, dead in an animal enclosure. It's the second cat zoo inhabitants have killed in the past year.

Little Kobe, named by 14-year-old Logan Sullivan after his favourite NBA player Kobe Bryant, was an "awesome" cat.

Logan's dad Grant Sullivan described Kobe as "a bit of a character".

But on the night of December 16, he never came home.

STUFF Two cats have been killed in or near Wellington Zoo (pictured) animal enclosures this year, which is "incredibly rare" chief executive Karen Fifield says.

"Which is really unusual because he comes home and snuggles up to my daughter. He'd get up on top of her head and knead her with his paws until he fell asleep on her hair," Sullivan said.

Come Monday, a zoo staff member broke the devastating news.

Kobe was found in a valley near Melrose Cres, on the edge of the zoo. While they could not take his body home due to Ministry for Primary Industry regulations, the Sullivans could collect his collar.

SUPPLIED Henry, a long-haired former SPCA cat, was the second cat killed in a Wellington Zoo enclosure.

"It's a horrible thing when the zoo rings. If he's been killed there, he's been killed by an animal," Sullivan said.

"Then things go through your mind. We tried not to elaborate too much with the kids on the details."

Sullivan questioned the effectiveness of the zoo's $350,000 metal fence, which was installed this year, complete with electric wires.

KEVIN STENT/STUFF Wellington Zoo's new fence cost $350,000 to install this year - complete with electric wires - but couldn't keep out family pets Kobe and Henry.

At 480-metres long, it replaced the ageing fences that surrounded the outer perimeter, in addition to the zoo's enclosure fences.

"They've spent a lot of money on it but it's not a predator fence, they [cats] can just walk right through it. It's just to keep people out," Sullivan said.

Another Melrose Cres resident, who did not want to be named, said she received the same dreaded call as the Sullivans about her cat Henry back in February.

MAARTEN HOLL/STUFF Throughout Karen Fifield's 11-year tenure as Wellington Zoo chief executive, she says only three cats have died in or near enclosures.

"My husband took the call, and I instinctively knew it was about Henry. I asked if he was alive ... and he shook his head. I just burst into tears," she said.

"Our minds were racing about the circumstances in which he might have died, which we just didn't want to know. But it was really just horrific, really horrible."

She emailed zoo staff about the "massive gaps" in the fence, months before Kobe's death.

"We thought that they would at least put a netting behind it but nothing happened," she said.

"I would be mortified if our cats got into the kiwi or penguin enclosure, none of which is fenced off, and attacked their wildlife. So, I don't know why it's not a priority for them."

Fifield said it was "incredibly rare" to find dead pets in the zoo. Throughout her 11 years at the zoo, three cats have died in or near animal enclosures.

"We've done all we possibly we can, as I said, in terms of the new perimeter fence and advocating to keep cats inside at night," she said. "If you've got an inquisitive cat, it will find its way through."

In the past twelve months, Auckland Zoo has caught three cats – Lily, Romeo, and Indy – and reunited them all with their owners.

This country's only open-range zoo, Orana Wildlife Park, sits on 80 hectares of land and is located on the outskirts of Christchurch.

As such, it doesn't have issues with wandering family pets but feral cats instead, spokesman Nathan Hawke said.