Brooklands Zoo red panda dies

[Chlidonias]

Death of Brooklands Zoo's red panda | Stuff.co.nz

Loveable little Brooklands Zoo resident, Mungo the red panda, has died.

The cheeky wee chap had been sick for some time, but took a particularly bad turn just over a week ago and never really recovered.

Brooklands Zoo's technical officer Eve Cozzi said a vet had been treating Mungo for his illness, but he wouldn't respond to medication so yesterday morning he had to be put down.

"It's a really difficult day for zoo staff today," Ms Cozzi said.

"He was a cute little munchkin and he's going to be so missed by both the zoo staff and the public."

Mungo was 11 years old.

He was born at Auckland Zoo in 1998 as part of the red panda breeding programme, and then transferred to Hamilton.

The cuddly critter was well-known for his love of his keepers – and his hatred of his own kind.

While at Hamilton Zoo, a malicious Mungo would dig under his cage or chew a hole through it so he could fight a neighbouring red panda.

"But that's not untypical of the species," Hamilton Zoo spokeswoman Morele Rand said. "Male pandas are loners, they like the females when it's mating time but you can't really keep them together, they have too much testosterone."

However, due to his relentless warring ways, Mungo was moved to New Plymouth in July 2006.

He lived in an enclosure by himself and became a favourite with the zoo's visitors.

"He seemed really happy and contented at Brooklands," Ms Cozzi said.

"All the staff worked with him and he would hand-feed from the keepers."

Mungo was considered an "aged" panda, although some of the species live until they are 16 years old.

He was never bred, so does not have any children, but possibly a surviving sibling.

 

[Axl]

Thanks for the update, sad news though.

I remember seeing Mungo at Hamilton Zoo for some time when he lived with his father Mario and another male called Laotzy. After Mario's death, Laotzy went to a zoo in Australia (possibly Adelaide but I'm not 100%) and as mentioned in your article, Mungo went to Brooklands Zoo. Hamilton Zoo now have a male called Chico.

Mungo has a sister called Maya, she was born in the same litter in 1998 and has bred twice: twins (Blaze and Amber) in 2000 and triplets (Chico, Badal and Khorshuva) in 2003.