Why Army scientists were called in to investigate the death of a Red Panda at the National Zoo

U.S. Army scientists investigated the death of a rare critter earlier this year: a red panda associated with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI). The Army scientists were brought in because of their deep expertise in the field of pathogen discovery and microbiology, which the Smithsonian needed to identify what kind of biological agent killed the panda. That information helps protect the red panda worldwide.

“Red pandas are endangered and legally protected in India, Bhutan, China, Nepal and Myanmar,” Dr. Neel Aziz, a veterinary pathologist at the NZCBI, said in an Army press release on Tuesday. “Learning the specific genus and species of pathogens that affect red pandas will help conservation medicine at the wildlife-domestic animal interface and wildlife-human interface.”

It was not immediately clear which red panda had died. In October, CNN reported that Rusty, a red panda who enjoyed 15 minutes of fame in 2013 for escaping the National Zoo and wandering through Washington D.C., had died at the age of 10, though Rusty had been transferred to the Pueblo Zoo in Colorado before his death. Whoever the poor red panda was, the knowledge gained from his or her death “will ultimately help protect the endangered species,” according to the press release.

The Army team included four soldiers and two civilians who conducted transmission electron microscopy studies on tissues from the panda’s brain in order to identify the protozoa there. One of the soldiers, Maj. Mathanraj Packiam, has a doctoral degree in microbiology and immunology, so this was right in his wheelhouse.



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