Adelaide: One of Australia’s top zoos on Tuesday launched a safety review after a teenager entered the giant panda habitat to retrieve a mobile phone that had fallen inside the periphery of the enclosure
The Adelaide Zoo has committed to reviewing its safety protocols following an incident on Monday where a secondary school student climbed into the enclosure of its two pandas, Wang Wang and Fu Ni, reports Xinhua news agency.
Wang Wang and Fu Ni are Australia’s only breeding pair of giant pandas, having been on loan from China since 2009, and are one of the zoo’s top attractions.
Elaine Bensted, chief executive officer of Zoos South Australia (SA), said the student was filming when he dropped his phone and jumped an electrified fence to retrieve it.
The enclosure was locked down and hot wires that protect the pandas were switched off so staff could rescue the student with a ladder.
The teenager was unharmed but was taken for medical checks as a precaution.
Wang Wang was the only panda in the enclosure at the time but Bensted said he slept through the disturbance.
Zoos SA has launched a review of its procedures to prevent any similar future incidents.
“We’re very pleased that the incident passed without any impact on either the student or the pandas but we’ll do a full debrief and make that assessment as to whether or not what we’ve got in place is suitable,” Bensted said.
–IANS