The zoo blamed the loud bangs for the death
A baby red panda called Roxie has died at Edinburgh Zoo after suffering from ‘firework stress’.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) announced that the three-month-old baby panda had choked on her own vomit after they claim fireworks on Bonfire Night in the city caused the animal to become stressed.
Roxie’s mother also suddenly died five day earlier with vets refusing to rule out the death also being linked to fireworks.
The sad events have led to the zoo teaming up with animal welfare charities and other campaigners to demand tighter restrictions on fireworks.
Red pandas come from the eastern Himalayas and south western China and are an endangered species with less than 10,000 living in the wild.
This comes mainly due to habitat loss, human interference and poaching.
Roxie was only born in July and became the fourth red panda at Edinburgh Zoo with a fifth arriving in October from another zoo.
There had been new banning powers brought in around Edinburgh between 1-10 November, although the area around the zoo was not included.
As reported by the BBC, chief executive at RZSS, Ben Supple said that although Roxie had access to her den on the night, the noises appeared to be too much for her.
Related links:
He said: “Roxie had recently lost her mum Ginger but was responding well to specialist care from our expert team and was feeding independently.
“Very sadly, she choked on her vomit on Bonfire Night and our vets believe this was probably a reaction to fireworks.
“We know that fireworks can cause stress to other animals in the zoo and we cannot rule out that they may have contributed to the untimely death of Roxie’s mother Ginger, just five days’ earlier.”
