diff --git a/logstash-core/lib/logstash/util.rb b/logstash-core/lib/logstash/util.rb
index e68ebb65a..614dcf1ea 100644
--- a/logstash-core/lib/logstash/util.rb
+++ b/logstash-core/lib/logstash/util.rb
@@ -35,14 +35,6 @@ module LogStash::Util
     Thread.current[:plugin] = plugin
   end
 
-  def self.get_thread_id(thread)
-    if RUBY_ENGINE == "jruby"
-      JRuby.reference(thread).native_thread.id
-    else
-      raise Exception.new("Native thread IDs aren't supported outside of JRuby")
-    end
-  end
-
   def self.thread_info(thread)
     # When the `thread` is dead, `Thread#backtrace` returns `nil`; fall back to an empty array.
     backtrace = (thread.backtrace || []).map do |line|
@@ -56,7 +48,7 @@ module LogStash::Util
                  end
 
     {
-      "thread_id" => get_thread_id(thread),
+      "thread_id" => get_thread_id(thread), # might be nil for dead threads
       "name" => thread[:name],
       "plugin" => (thread[:plugin] ? thread[:plugin].debug_info : nil),
       "backtrace" => backtrace,
diff --git a/logstash-core/src/main/java/org/logstash/RubyUtil.java b/logstash-core/src/main/java/org/logstash/RubyUtil.java
index d760999a6..df207064f 100644
--- a/logstash-core/src/main/java/org/logstash/RubyUtil.java
+++ b/logstash-core/src/main/java/org/logstash/RubyUtil.java
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ import org.logstash.log.SlowLoggerExt;
 import org.logstash.plugins.HooksRegistryExt;
 import org.logstash.plugins.PluginFactoryExt;
 import org.logstash.plugins.UniversalPluginExt;
+import org.logstash.util.UtilExt;
 
 import java.util.stream.Stream;
 
@@ -308,6 +309,7 @@ public final class RubyUtil {
         NULL_TIMED_EXECUTION_CLASS.defineAnnotatedMethods(NullMetricExt.NullTimedExecution.class);
         NULL_COUNTER_CLASS.defineAnnotatedMethods(NullNamespacedMetricExt.NullCounter.class);
         UTIL_MODULE = LOGSTASH_MODULE.defineModuleUnder("Util");
+        UTIL_MODULE.defineAnnotatedMethods(UtilExt.class);
         ABSTRACT_DLQ_WRITER_CLASS = UTIL_MODULE.defineClassUnder(
             "AbstractDeadLetterQueueWriterExt", RUBY.getObject(),
             ObjectAllocator.NOT_ALLOCATABLE_ALLOCATOR
diff --git a/logstash-core/src/main/java/org/logstash/util/UtilExt.java b/logstash-core/src/main/java/org/logstash/util/UtilExt.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..57bf0a310
--- /dev/null
+++ b/logstash-core/src/main/java/org/logstash/util/UtilExt.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package org.logstash.util;
+
+import org.jruby.RubyThread;
+import org.jruby.anno.JRubyMethod;
+import org.jruby.anno.JRubyModule;
+import org.jruby.runtime.ThreadContext;
+import org.jruby.runtime.builtin.IRubyObject;
+
+@JRubyModule(name = "Util") // LogStash::Util
+public class UtilExt {
+
+    @JRubyMethod(module = true)
+    public static IRubyObject get_thread_id(final ThreadContext context, IRubyObject self, IRubyObject thread) {
+        if (!(thread instanceof RubyThread)) {
+            throw context.runtime.newTypeError(thread, context.runtime.getThread());
+        }
+        final Thread javaThread = ((RubyThread) thread).getNativeThread(); // weak-reference
+        // even if thread is dead the RubyThread instance might stick around while the Java thread
+        // instance already could have been garbage collected - let's return nil for dead meat :
+        return javaThread == null ? context.nil : context.runtime.newFixnum(javaThread.getId());
+    }
+
+}