Red panda, tired of partner, escapes Polish zoo and gets stuck in tree

A red panda caused a stir after escaping from a Polish zoo and climbing high into a tree, requiring a rescue by the fire brigade. One zookeeper has suggested that the male may have fled his enclosure to seek solitude from his female partner.

On Saturday, zookeepers at Gdańsk Zoo noticed during morning rounds that Ponzu, a seven-year-old male red panda, was missing from his enclosure and that only Maja, the female, remained.

Zoo staff immediately began searching for the missing creature, before Ponzu was eventually spotted up in a tree elsewhere in the zoological park. However, Ponzu was so high up that staff had to call in the fire brigade to safely retrieve the animal.

According to Jacek Jakóbczyk, press officer for the Gdańsk fire brigade, the rescue mission involved using a hoist and climbing gear to bring a veterinarian up to Ponzu, with zoo staff holding a large net below the tree, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

Ponzu was safely rescued and eventually returned to his enclosure, although some believe that he may not be too thrilled to be reunited with Maja.

This is primarily due to the fact that Ponzu has previously escaped from his enclosure on numerous occasions, most recently in February. Staff at Warsaw Zoo have confirmed that tensions between male and female red pandas sharing enclosures can lead to the males seeking solitude.

A Warsaw zookeeper told news service Polsat that similar behaviour has been observed between the two red pandas in their zoo, female Nanu and male Pabu.

“Sometimes the female manages to encourage the male to play, but more often than not he just walks away from her and has this attitude like leave me alone, I’m going to sleep,” the keeper told Polsat.

While that may explain why Ponzu escaped, staff at Gdańsk Zoo are still mystified as to how he was able to do so.

“How did Ponzu get out? For the moment only he knows the exact answer. All the security measures were working correctly but maybe our boy was lucky and came across a spot in the electric fence with weaker voltage,” speculated the zoo.

“He worked us out, he was smarter than us. An investigation is underway,” Mirosław Kalicki, a vet from the zoo, told Polsat.

Red pandas are strong climbers thanks to their naturally thick claws. They are native to the dense and high-altitude forests of Nepal, Myanmar and China below the Eastern Himalayas and spend most of their time in the treetops.

Anna Hackett

Anna Hackett is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a recent graduate of European Studies from Trinity College Dublin and has had previous journalistic experience with the Irish Independent News & Media group.