Red panda discovered in fig tree after it fled from Australia zoo
Ravi, a 7-year-old red panda, escaped from the zoo just days after its arrival
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Some animals just cannot be tamed — and that was the case for one young red panda named Ravi.
The 7-year-old red panda was brought to the Adelaide Zoo in Australia just last week in the hope that he would take a liking to a female red panda, Mishry.
Ravi had other plans, apparently.
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Within two days, Ravi was discovered missing from the zoo.
Ravi, a 7-year-old red panda, sits in a tree near the zoo that he escaped from just days earlier. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation via AP)
The zookeepers spent all day trying to entice Ravi down from a fig tree that he had climbed in a nearby park, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Adelaide Zoo director Phil Ainsley said that the staff tried to give him bamboo and sweet corn, two of his favorites — but Ravi was not budging.
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"We used a couple of different dart devices, finally got a dart into him and then just had to wait about 15 minutes just for the drug to take some effect," he said to ABC.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Within that short time frame, Ravi fell into the blankets that zookeepers were holding for him as they waited beneath the tree, according to an Associated Press report.
Zookeepers are shown preparing to catch Ravi from a tree near the zoo he escaped from days earlier. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation via AP)
Ainsley, the zoo director, told ABC that Ravi is doing well.
The animal is spending some time in the animal health hospital for the next few days to ensure that he’s healthy and fully recovered.
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But why would Ravi want to escape?
"Obviously he’d just arrived and was testing his enclosure," the director told ABC.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This was a close call for the zoo, as red pandas are an endangered species, as Fox News Digital previously reported.
Ravi is caged after being found in a tree near the zoo he escaped from days earlier in Adelaide, Australia. The panda escaped from his enclosure at the Adelaide Zoo and was recaptured on Sunday from a fig tree. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation via AP)
Fewer than 205 red pandas are accounted for in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Program.
Although endangered, red pandas are legally protected in India, Bhutan, China, Nepal and Myanmar — meaning they cannot be taken or traded across international lines, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Experts estimate that less than 10,000 red pandas live in the wild.
The species appear very similar to bears and raccoons — yet are a part of the ailuridae family, which is an unspecialized carnivore species that originated in Europe.
Experts estimate that less than 10,000 red pandas live in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ravi’s escape comes just weeks after a Michigan zoo welcomed a baby red panda.
The 8-year-old red panda, Maliha, delivered a cub at the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, Michigan.
Cortney Moore of Fox News Digital, as well as the Associated Press, contributed reporting to this article.