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Kush the red panda put to sleep following illness

Thu, 02 Dec 2021

A popular red panda at the Curraghs Wildlife Park has passed away.

Staff confirmed Kush the Red Panda was put to sleep following an illness at the age of eight.

In a statement, Curraghs said: "Staff at the Park are shocked and saddened by his passing, most of all his keepers who cared greatly for him. We know this news will also be of real sadness for our visitors, as a favourite of many."

"Kush experienced a sudden loss of co-ordination on Tuesday and was taken into the vets for anaesthesia to investigate. Bloods were taken and he was reversed from the anaesthetic. However, his condition worsened and despite being nursed by keepers during Tuesday night and further interventions at the veterinary surgery on Wednesday, it was clear he was slipping away and so the decision was made to put him to sleep to prevent any further suffering."

"A full post mortem will be carried out as with any animal that passes away here, even if they were old and the death was expected. Sadly Kush was still in his prime at 8 years old, which makes his death a little harder to take for all those that cared for him. It will be a number of weeks until all samples have been fully analysed. There are a few possible causes based on his clinical symptoms but we cannot be sure until the full results are back. This also ensures we can make quick preventative veterinary decisions and safe guard our other Panda’s health."

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