NORFOLK — Sunny, a red panda who disappeared from the Virginia Zoological Park when she was 18 months old, has been missing since January.
A photo that zoo officials received yesterday via Facebook suggested Sunny may be in someone’s backyard in Fairfax, Virginia.
Don’t believe everything you see on the internet.
“I contacted the Stafford County Animal Control, who had also received the photo, however, no was able to get in contact with the original sender,” zoo spokesperson Ashley Grove Mars said in an email.
The sender’s elusiveness could perhaps be traced to one crucial detail: it wasn’t Sunny.
“Upon further investigation, the photo is actually of a red panda from the Central Park Zoo in New York City,” Mars said. “A former keeper recognized the exhibit.”
In August, Mars told Southside Daily Sunny may have fallen off of a tree branch and escaped off of zoo grounds that way.
“Without hotwire on the fence or barrier walls [outside her exhibit], she would be able to climb a fence or a tree and get out of the zoo.”
To ensure the safety of red pandas living at the Virginia Zoological Park, the Department of Agriculture did a focused inspection of Sunny’s exhibit in February. The agency found that the enclosure had no compliance issues that would put the pandas at risk.
Red pandas are monitored by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, or AZA. Red pandas are an endangered species, with fewer than 10,000 in the world, according to the World Wildlife Foundation.
Sunny was in her first breeding season when she vanished, said Sarah Glass, the North American red panda species survival plan coordinator.
“During breeding season these guys do become more active because in the wild they would start actively looking for other red pandas,” Glass said. “Even though there’s a red panda in the very exhibit with them, they are hardwired to start traveling and advertising themselves.”
In May, the Virginia Zoological Park welcomed a new, juvenile red panda, Masu. She was moved to the zoo as part of the AZA’s red panda species survival plan and lives in an exhibit with a male named Timur.
Adrienne Mayfield contributed reporting.
