Everyone was delighted when a red panda named “Barney” escaped from his cage at a German zoo, was captured and brought back.
The troublesome creature was found missing from its home at the Cologne Zoo on Thursday.
Zoo staff soon found Bernie high up in a tree outside the zoo's enclosure. said in a social media post..
Zoo officials said Bernie was “unable to be persuaded to leave the zoo on his own accord.”
The photo showed the red panda looking down at onlookers, as if realizing it was out of reach.
Needing help, the zoo called the local fire department. First responders were able to use a ladder truck to get Bernie back to safety.
A video posted by the zoo showed Barney running away on a snow-covered tree branch when firefighters reached him in the canopy.
“Keepers caught the baby panda lying on the ground and released it into its cage,” the zoo wrote on social media.
Bernie returned to his cage and was “complaining slightly,” the zoo said.
Zoo officials believe he made a daring escape using a piece of bamboo bent under the weight of recent snowfall.
The red panda has lived at Cologne Zoo since 2015.
Despite its name, the red panda is not closely related to the black and white great panda.
They are endangered, with only about 10,000 left in the wild in their native Himalayas. According to the World Wildlife Fund.
Slightly larger than domestic cats, they are known for their excellent climbing ability and spend most of their lives in trees. They use their long, bushy tails to stay warm during the winter.
Red pandas are famous escape artists.
In 2022, a red panda escaped from its cage at an Australian zoo and was later found in a fig tree. Another animal went missing from an Ohio zoo in 2020. In 2017, a female red panda slipped from a Virginia zoo while searching for a potential mate.
