Red Panda Found: Missing Animal Escapes From National Zoo, Located Via Twitter In Washington D.C. Neighborhood

A red panda was found Monday after he escaped from the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington D.C. The raccoon-sized animal went missing Sunday and a photo of the red panda posted on Twitter helped animal keepers track him down.

Rusty, a male red panda just shy of his first birthday, was captured Monday in a tree near a home in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, said National Zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson. It had traveled across the Rock Creek Park, perhaps crossing a road or under a creek bridge to reach a residential area nearly ¾ of a mile from the zoo, USA Today reports.

The animal was taken to the zoo's animal hospital for a checkup and will remain there for several days.

Zoo curators say how Rusty escaped from his exhibit is still a mystery. No security cameras record the red panda exhibit specifically, and now the zoo plans to add more cameras.

"There is no obvious point that Rusty could have gotten out of the enclosure," senior curator Brandie Smith said, adding that it had held red pandas for years.

Curators have cut back several long tree limbs that may have helped the skilled climber escape his enclosure.

Unlike giant pandas, red pandas are not related to the bears. Red pandas are slightly bigger than a domestic cat and look similar to a raccoon. They are listed as vulnerable in the wild and native to China.

Ashley Foughty, a Washington, D.C.-based actress, tweeted a picture of the red panda scurrying around the neighborhood, which helped tip off animal keepers to the location of the missing animal.

Foughty  tweeted: "Red panda in our neighborhood! 20th NW and Biltmore. Please come save him!" 

"I tweeted the picture because obviously this is not normal and one of my friends commented and said the zoo was indeed missing one," she told E! Online.