A search was under way on Saturday to find Masala, a young red panda that disappeared from a zoo in northern California.
Several resident of Eureka, California joined employees of the Sequoia Park zoo and city officials to search for the 18-month-old female, who went missing between 11am and 2pm on Thursday.
“Red pandas can be active after dusk and at night so please keep a look out, especially if you have bamboo growing in your garden,” said zoo manager Gretchen Ziegler in a Facebook post.
Ziegler told the North Coast Journal that zookeepers and city staff had spent Friday night “bushwhacking the gullies” and canvassing areas surrounding the zoo in their search for the copper-colored critter.
On social media, the zoo was using the #findMasala hashtag to spread the word about her escape.
Ziegler urged residents to be on the lookout but warned that they should not approach Masala if they saw her. Instead, residents should immediately call the zoo or police while doing their best to keep her in their sights.
“Please don’t just post sightings on Facebook,” she said, on Facebook.
Several residents called in sightings, the North Coast Journal reported, but none were immediately confirmed. California fire officials were also searching for the panda in the forest.
Ziegler asked residents to drive carefully, citing cars as one of the biggest threats to Masala’s safety. Red pandas look similar to raccoons and are small – about the size of a large domestic house cat – with big tails.
It was not yet clear how the panda escaped the zoo’s enclosure. Staff were watching the exhibit’s three other pandas.
Red pandas are native to Nepal, Myanmar and China.
