Animals and Insects

A Zoo Lost Its Endangered (And Adorable) Red Panda

Apparently, red pandas are master escape artists.

A Zoo Lost Its Endangered (And Adorable) Red Panda
Virginia Zoo
SMS

This red panda is named Sunny. She's missing from the Virginia Zoo.

Zookeepers last saw Sunny on Monday evening. When they went to check her enclosure Tuesday morning, the 19-month-old panda was gone.

Sunny has been at the Virginia Zoo since May 2016.

Squirrels Are Bushy-Tailed National Security Threats
Squirrels Are Bushy-Tailed National Security Threats

Squirrels Are Bushy-Tailed National Security Threats

With all the hand-wringing over cyberattacks, you might have missed that squirrels have done way more damage to the national grid.

LEARN MORE

But the Virginia Zoo isn't the only one struggling to keep track of a red panda.

Popular Science reports the first known red panda escape happened at a zoo in the Netherlands in 1978.

Since then, zoos and conservation centers in England, Scotland, Germany and Washington, D.C., have reported missing red pandas.

These endangered, acrobatic animals like to climb trees, which is what makes them master escape artists.

For this reason, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums repeatedly says in its care manual that tree branches inside red panda enclosures shouldn't extend past the boundary fence.

The World Wildlife Fund estimates fewer than 10,000 red pandas are left in the world.

The Virginia Zoo is working with local police to find Sunny.