Pandas storm out of zoo to freedom

Published on Tuesday 12 February 2008 20:54

TWO rare red pandas are on the run after escaping from their enclosure in a Scottish zoo.

The pandas broke free five days ago after a tree fell onto their pen during a storm. The racoon-like animals are now thought to be in a wooded area close to Galloway Wildlife Conservation Park.

Police in Dumfries and Galloway last night appealed for people to look out for the animals, a mother and daughter.

Red pandas are about the size of a small dog and their diet is mainly bamboo. Staff from the conservation park and police do not consider the animals to be a threat and hope they will return to the zoo when they get hungry.

Constable Ian Bradley of Dumfries and Galloway Police, urged anyone who sees the red pandas to contact police in Kirkcudbright.

He said: "Due to the high winds a tree toppled over onto the pen and that has given the animals access out. A male stayed behind."

Red pandas are nocturnal and spend most of the day up sleeping in a distinctive position, with a bushy tail wrapped around the head.

They like to climb and it is thought they may be living in trees in the area surrounding the park. Thick branch cover has made it difficult for staff to search for the pair.

Red pandas originate in southern Asian countries including Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Burma and Nepal, but loss of natural habitat has put the animals on the endangered species list.

A red panda was born at the zoo last June. It was hailed as continuing the centre's "fantastic breeding record for this endangered species", according to the zoo's website. There are almost 150 animals at the park from around the world.

Nobody from the conservation park was available to comment last night.

However, in Edinburgh, Ross Minett, the campaigns director for Advocates for Animals, one the UK's leading animal protection organisations, questioned what reason a Scottish zoo had for keeping red pandas in the first place, and criticised zoos and conservation parks for investing in captive breeding programmes and using them to justify the maintenance of unnatural environments.

He said: "Our main concern is the welfare of the animals being in a zoo environment on the other side of the planet from where they're naturally from.

"When you look at the reality, these programmes to conserve endangered species waste vast amounts of money that could be better spent on preserving animals in their natural habitat, rather than traipsing half-way across the world.

"Zoos are increasing their collections, realising they cannot justify having animals for entertainment, they're trying to sell themselves as conservation centres. Studies have shown animals don't perform their normal behaviour when kept in captivity."

The escaped Galloway red pandas are just the latest wild animals to free themselves from captivity. Last week a tailless Barbary macaque monkey was shot dead at Edinburgh Zoo after it escaped from a rabies quarantine cage.

Visitors were evacuated from the park during a two-hour hunt for the animal last Tuesday.

It was tracked down several times running through the zoo but efforts to stop it with a tranquilliser gun failed. Zookeepers decided to shoot the animal dead, fearing it could get lost in the zoo's 82 acres of parkland.