SEATTLE – Two fugitives from the Woodland Park Zoo are safely back in custody Thursday after escaping from the red panda exhibit overnight.
It started at around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday when a worker in the red panda area spotted the twin 6-month-old cubs playing on a tree branch above their enclosure when the branch broke and the two landed outside the enclosure.
One of the cubs scrambled up a tree beside the exhibit. Zoo keepers convinced her to come back down using food at about midnight.
The other cub climbed up a larger nearby tree. She didn’t want to come down, so a team of zoo keepers kept an eye her overnight.
By Thursday morning they were able to lure her down from the tree with her favorite food – apples.
Both red panda cubs are now safely back in their enclosure.