An injured wallaby found near the Halawa Correctional Facility was doing well a day after surgery to remove its right eye, according to Honolulu Zoo officials Tuesday.

For now its nickname is “Halawa.”

Zoo veterinarian Emma Kaiser performed surgery Monday to remove the eye in a process known as enucleation, which leaves the eye muscles and remaining orbital contents intact. At a media conference Tuesday, Kaiser said there were basically no normal eye tissues left in the marsupial’s right eye orbit and that there was no hope for vision. After removing the eye, the lids were sutured and should heal in about two weeks.

“He recovered well and by yesterday afternoon was hopping around and eating grass,” said Kaiser, “so that’s always a good sign.”

Zoo caretakers are closely monitoring the wallaby as it recovers.

Halawa weighs about 12 pounds and is about knee height, according to Honolulu Zoo Director Linda Santos. “Animals adapt really well to losing an eye or a limb,” said Santos.

At this point Halawa will not likely be returned to the wild. Options include keeping him at the Honolulu Zoo or transporting him to another. The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has jurisdiction over the wallaby, according to Santos, and will determine its future. The zoo has scoped out potential places to keep him long-term, if necessary.

Santos said other wallabies have been turned in to the zoo from the Koolaus in previous years, but some were in bad condition — one was possibly attacked by a dog and another trapped in a snare — and did not make it. Currently, the Honolulu Zoo has no marsupial residents, but did have an eastern gray kangaroo and wallabies in the 1970s, she said.

“It’s very educational because obviously this is not an endemic species,” said Santos, “but it was something that escaped in 1916, and generations of wallabies have established from two animals that entered the wild.”

Santos said she did not believe any current data was available on the wallaby population on Oahu.

As relayed in previous accounts, three wallabies were brought from Australia to a private zoo in Alewa Heights in 1916. Neighborhood dogs attacked them, killing the youngest. Two adult wallabies escaped, and are believed to have established a colony in Kalihi Valley.

It is unknown whether Halawa fought with another animal or got kicked out of a group, which is not uncommon, according to Santos. He was picked up by the state Department of Agriculture on Friday evening.