Orphaned red panda cub to remain at Va. zoo

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — A 4-month-old orphaned red panda at the Mill Mountain Zoo is getting a roommate.

The cub’s mother stopped nursing him soon after he was born at the Roanoke zoo on June 15. Since then, zoo employees have bottle-fed and raised him.

The Roanoke Times (http://bit.ly/1tz88Ye ) reports that the zoo had planned to move the cub, named Archibald, to another zoo so he could interact with other red pandas. Instead, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ red panda survival program decided to send an orphaned cub from another zoo to Mill Mountain Zoo.

Mill Mountain Zoo interim director Robin Lentz says the cubs will teach each other how to be red pandas.

Archibald’s parents and twin sister are still part of the zoo’s red panda exhibit.

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Information from: The Roanoke Times, http://www.roanoke.com

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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