Isle of Man missing red panda recaptured for second time

A red panda that escaped from a wildlife park on the Isle of Man twice has been recaptured for a second time.

"Kush" went missing from the Curraghs Wildlife Park on Wednesday and was spotted by a member of the public up a tree opposite the park in Ballaugh shortly after 09:00 GMT on Saturday.

The panda is now in the sanctuary's hospital unit to be checked over.

General manager Kathleen Graham said staff were "very grateful" to have the endangered mammal back.

Park staff and volunteers spent more than three hours on the rescue operation as "exceptionally high winds" hampered efforts to coax the animal down.

A net was used catch the panda when the branch it was holding on to was deliberately cut, causing it to fall out of the tree.

Mrs Graham said Kush was not hurt: "Red pandas can fall from quite high trees and be safe.

"It's quite normal for pandas to fall. They can fall out of trees, and fall quite a distance without any harm."

Mrs Graham said an investigation into how the panda escaped for a second time was still under way, but it was not thought to be a "failure in the enclosure".

"We don't have any worries about him escaping if he goes back into the enclosure today or tomorrow," she said.

The seven-year-old mammal last went missing for three weeks in October 2019 and was eventually recaptured after being spotted in a tree in the garden of a home about a mile away in Tholt-y-Will, Sulby.