A red panda has escaped from Adelaide Zoo, sparking a two-day search.
Key points:
- A red panda escaped from Adelaide Zoo on Friday
- It was found atop a tree in the adjacent botanical park on Sunday morning
- The panda was recovered on Sunday afternoon
The seven-year-old red panda named Ravi escaped from his enclosure at the zoo in the city’s CBD on Friday.
He was found high up in a tree in the nearby botanical park on Sunday, but keepers have spent the day trying to entice him with food, but to no avail.
A tranquilizer was used this afternoon and rangers wrapped blankets around the tree to trap it.
Adelaide Zoo director Dr Phil Ainsley said keepers tried to lure Ravi with bamboo and corn but were unsuccessful.
Adelaide Zoo director Dr Phil Ainsley in front of the tree in the Botanic Park where the red panda was found. (ABC News: Shari Hams)
“Based on the advice of our vets we made the decision that we would look at releasing him… [we] he finally gave her a shot and then she only had to wait about 15 minutes for the medicine to take effect.
“Our amazing team of vets and animal carers were underneath with blankets and managed to capture him as he fell.”
Dr Ainsley said the zoo will carry out a review of Ravi’s enclosure to identify how he escaped before returning him to his new home.
He said the Department of Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA) was alerted when Ravi went missing on Friday, but the public was not notified as Ravi was deemed a “low risk” to the environment and the humans
A red panda in the climbing tunnel at Adelaide Zoo. (ABC News: Ethan Rix)
Dr Ainsley said Ravi’s adventure was the first mammal escape from the zoo in years.
The focus now, she said, was on Ravi’s welfare, after he had only arrived at the zoo last week.
“He’s now being moved back to the zoo where he’ll spend the next few days in our animal health department just getting checked out and making sure he’s OK,” she said.
“Obviously, being in the Botanic Park, there are a lot of fig trees, so he probably got a bit of a bite from some of the figs that were on the trees, but [he] it will be a hungry panda.”