Giant panda makes dramatic escape from enclosure at Copenhagen Zoo: report

One of Copenhagen Zoo's giant pandas escaped from its enclosure and roamed the park before staff were able to bring it back.

A startled caretaker at Copenhagen Zoo discovered a male giant panda roaming free around the zoo's garden on Monday morning, reported by Danish national television DR.

Xing Er, one of the two giant pandas at the zoo, crawled up a metal pole and squeezed under an electric wire to escape his enclosure, according to the DR report.

The giant panda was subsequently recaptured in the Panda House by zoo staff with the aid of a stun-gun and placed back inside his re-secured enclosure.

Xing Er was not hurt in the process.

"Of course, this must not happen, and we will now carefully examine the plant to ensure that it does not happen again," said Bengt Holst, Scientific Director at Copenhagen Zoo in a press release.

"He wanted to visit his girlfriend," commented Annie Devantie under the DR post on Facebook.

Xing Er is one of the two giant pandas that Denmark has on loan from China from 2019. The female panda Mao Sun was not involved in the escape, said Copenhagen Zoo in the press release.

Xing Er and Mao Sun took their first chance of close-down due to the COVID-19 pandemic to mate in April.

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