Yay!
by digby
“Crated and captured!”
The male red panda that escaped from Smithsonian National Zoo overnight was nabbed Monday afternoon in Adams Morgan, a zoo spokeswoman said.
Word came back from the panda hunt about 2:15 p.m. that Rusty, who is less than a year old and is about the size of a raccoon, had been captured.
He was not seen in his enclosure at 7:30 a.m. Monday, and the zoo sounded a “Code Green” alert for an escaped animal at 8 a.m.
An intense search ensued. The zoo gates were closed temporarily as the search began but were reopened at 9:45 a.m. after he eluded authorities, spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson said.
“We have been searching all morning,” she had said earlier. “It is most likely that he has not really left the vicinity. He would have to have some very strong motivation to leave the area.”
But around 2 p.m., a passerby spotted the fugitive, near 20th and Biltmore streets, just south of the zoo, snapped and tweeted his picture and reportedly called the zoo. Rusty was quickly apprehended by zoo staff.
I knew twitter and facebook were good for something ...
