Summary
A baby red panda named Roxie at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland died from “stress caused by fireworks” after choking on her vomit, just days after her mother’s sudden death.
The incident, occurring around the U.K.’s Bonfire Night celebrations, has led to renewed calls for stricter fireworks regulations.
A petition with over a million signatures urging restrictions on public fireworks sales was submitted to the U.K. government.
Edinburgh recently implemented limited fireworks control zones, but animal welfare advocates argue for broader measures to prevent similar tragedies.
I mean, if you’ve ever had a pet during the 4th of July you know stress responses range from hiding and being generally skittish to literally stress vomiting or running around the house in a panic. That kind of stress for a newborn animal just a few days old could quite easily kill it.
As for the mom, who just gave birth, a very risky thing for most animals…
Look I’m not saying it’s impossible but what’s more likely. An animal died after giving birth (common) and the newborn panda died during a very stressful event while it didn’t have a mother so was likely even more stressed? Fireworks probably just exacerbated a terrible situation for the baby.
Or some grand conspiracy by all the employees of the place to cover up, checks notes red panda deaths, and, checks notes again wage war on the fireworks industry?
It’s likely the caretakers had been fighting to keep the baby alive for days after its mother died, and fireworks happened noticeably stressing out the fragile panda even more, and they were incredibly sad and angry that something as stupid as fireworks was the tipping point for the life of this baby animal.