Mei Lin, the red panda born at the Utica Zoo, who later returned to the zoo, died in February of an intestinal infection of unknown cause, according to the results of post-mortem testing performed by the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Her cubs, Bao and Momo, who will turn one in late June, remain at the zoo and are being closely monitored, according to zoo officials. They have been eating, playing and behaving normally, staff said.
Their father, Khairo, who is 9 years old, also lives at the zoo.
Veterinarians from the Species Survival Plan have been working closely with the Utica Zoo and say that it is unlikely that the cubs will contract a similar infection. Red pandas are an endangered species.
The diagnostic center performed a necropsy and histopathology as well as molecular testing after it was recommended by the university and survival plan vets.
More on the bacterial infection
Mei Lin was infected with a bacterium that common lives in the intestines of healthy humans and animals, only causing illness when other medical conditions come into play. But the Cornell scientist were unable to identify other factors that may have contributed to the infections, zoo officials said.
But Mei Lin’s immune system had become compromised, which would allow bacterial overgrowth. Red pandas are predisposed to certain conditions that can lead to weakened immune systems because of the lack of genetic diversity within the species, officials said.
More on Mei Lin
Mei Lin was born at the zoo in July, 2019 along with her brother Xiaobo to parents Ming Yue and Muse. She moved to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago upon reaching breeding age in 2021 because she was living with related males.
Ming Yue died of a lung infection in 2021 and Muse died two months later, likely of an intestinal blockage. Mei Lin then came home to the Utica Zoo in 2022. The public elected her as the zoo’s first prezoodent in 2023.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: How did Mei Lin the red panda at the Utica Zoo die?
Reporting by Amy Neff Roth, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
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