A red panda named Barney escaped from his cage and was rescued from a tree at the Cologne Zoo in Cologne, Germany, earlier this week, the zoo posted on its social media accounts on January 19.
After finding Bernie safe at home on Wednesday evening, zookeepers arrived Thursday to find Bernie climbing a tree outside his enclosure.
The zoo wrote on Instagram that Barney was “unable to be persuaded to leave the zoo on his own accord.”
Adorable video of Milwaukee County Zoo's baby red panda discovering snow for the first time
So Cologne Zoo called the fire department to rescue him.
Authorities used a ladder truck to safely pull Barney out of the tree and set him back down.
Red pandas are listed as an endangered species, with fewer than 10,000 left in the wild. Bernie (not pictured), who lives in Cologne, Germany, said: “I couldn't convince him to leave.'' [a tree] “Of his own free will,” authorities informed the fire department. (Milwaukee County Zoo / AMAZING ANIMALS+ /TMX)
“Keepers caught the baby panda lying on the ground and released it into its cage,” the zoo wrote on social media.
The post also said that Barney was “a little complaining” when he returned home.
Zoo keepers aren't sure how Barney was able to make his escape, but they suspect he may have climbed over a piece of bamboo bent by the snow.
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Despite their similar names, red pandas are not closely related to giant pandas, according to the Cologne Zoo's Facebook page.
According to the Cologne Zoo, red pandas are different from the giant pandas, which live naturally only in southwestern China, and “mainly live in temperate mountain forests from Nepal and India through Bhutan and Myanmar to southern China.” .
Unlike giant pandas, which eat almost exclusively bamboo, red pandas eat a variety of plants and insects in addition to bamboo. (Virginia Zoo, via AP)
According to the zoo, they eat more than just bamboo.
However, like the giant panda, the red panda is also an endangered species.
Red pandas are classified as an endangered species, with fewer than 10,000 left in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
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Barney isn't the only red panda to make headlines after escaping from its enclosure.
In August 2022, Ravi, a red panda, was found in a fig tree at Australia's Adelaide Zoo after escaping from his cage.
Rusty the red panda (pictured) escaped from the National Zoo in June 2013, taking about six hours to escape. It was eventually discovered nearby. (Abby Wood/Smithsonian National Zoo via Getty Images)
Ravi said the zoo only arrived two days ago.
Zookeepers believed he was simply trying to explore his surroundings and got stuck in a tree.
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Zookeepers eventually used a tranquilizer gun to safely remove Ravi from the tree.
In 2013, a red panda named Rusty fled across Washington, D.C., for about six hours after escaping from his enclosure at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
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Rusty was eventually found near Adams Morgan and safely returned to the zoo.
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