Escaped panda found dead

One of Hamilton Zoo's red pandas.

A red panda transferred to Hamilton Zoo on Friday has met a tragic end.

Badal, who moved to Hamilton from Auckland Zoo with his brother Chito, was discovered missing from his enclosure on Monday morning.

Zoo staff searched for the panda, slightly larger than a domestic cat, in trees both in and around the zoo.

This morning he was found dead on a side road which ran between the zoo and a neighbouring property.

Hamilton City Council spokeswoman Sarah Bettle said his injuries were consistent with being hit by a car.

Ms Bettle said zoo staff were devastated by the sad news. "They're just so attached to the animals, they're very, very upset," she said.

A post-mortem will be carried out today.

Ms Bettle said an investigation would also be carried out to find out how Badal was able to escape his enclosure.

In the interim, zoo staff had "made some guesses" as to how Badal may have made his getaway and upped the security of the cage, where Chito was still being housed and was behaving normally, she said.

The two pandas had been transferred to Hamilton as part of the Australasian Species Management Programme.

The programme maintains strict limits on the number of red pandas that can be bred yearly in Australasia.

Red panda males not required for breeding are kept in bachelor groups in zoos around the region.

Native to the Himalayas, southern China and parts of India and Nepal, the red panda can weigh between 3kg and 6kg.

- NZPA