An eight-year-old female red panda from Symbio Wildlife Park at Helensburgh has died after being hit by a vehicle.
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Kesari, who was a mum to five cubs, Mohan, Phinju, Raja, Shifu and Makalu, was struck on the M1 Princes Motorway on Thursday after escaping the park the night before.
Police officers were driving southbound on the M1 Princes Motorway about 3.30pm when they came across the injured red panda.
She suffered multiple fractures in the pelvis, and a significant amount of arthritis was already present in the area, due to her age.
After specialist veterinary examination it was deemed the chances of a positive and quality recovery too slim to put Kesari through the pain and she was euthanised.
A statement from Symbio Wildlife Park said: "The team at Symbio, and Kesari's zookeepers, are understandably distraught and devastated."
Kesari - one of three red pandas at Symbio - got out of her enclosure and the park when a tree fell down after the wet weather, providing her with a means of escape.
Upon discovering her missing, the Symbio team commenced a full-scale search and rescue operation through the day and into the early hours of the next morning with drones, tracking dogs and thermal telescopes assisting the efforts.
Zookeepers were on the scene immediately after she was hit by the vehicle and with the help of local police transported Kesari to expert veterinary care.
Kesari came from Auckland Zoo as part of a managed breeding program and has given birth to both twins and triplets in her time with Symbio.
The endangered red panda is a small mammal, slightly larger than a cat, which is native to the eastern Himalayas and parts of China and Myanmar.
While only distantly related to the giant panda, the two species share a love of bamboo.
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