{"id":33536,"date":"2026-08-09T00:32:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33536"},"modified":"2026-08-09T00:32:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:32:36","slug":"santa-barbara-zoo-red-panda-mom-dies-weeks-after-newborn-cubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33536","title":{"rendered":"Santa Barbara Zoo red panda mom dies weeks after newborn cubs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>A 2-year-old red panda named Ruby died at the Santa Barbara Zoo this week, weeks after the <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/assets.speakcdn.com\/assets\/2995\/pr_sb_zoo_loss_of_red_panda_cub.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">deaths of her two newborn cubs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Director of Animal Care Kristen Wieners said Ruby had shown signs of distress last weekend. She was brought to the zoo\u2019s animal hospital and underwent extensive testing, but her condition declined rapidly. She died Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite our best efforts, we couldn\u2019t pull her through that,\u201d Wieners shared Thursday in a <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/santabarbarazoo\/reel\/DbrVHock2zZ\" target=\"_blank\">video message on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The zoo believes that Ruby had Addison\u2019s disease \u2014 an often undetected endocrine disorder that affects the body\u2019s production of hormones like cortisol \u2014 and that the \u201cphysiological stress of pregnancy, birth, and lactation\u201d sent her into crisis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cComing so soon after the loss of her newborn cubs, this is a devastating blow to our entire Zoo family,\u201d the Facebook post read. \u201cWhile pathology is underway to better understand her illness, veterinary teams do not believe her condition was connected to that earlier loss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ruby\u2019s two cubs were born on <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sbzoo.org\/red-panda-updates\" target=\"_blank\">July 2 <\/a>and were the first red pandas born at the zoo in more than 30 years. But the first weeks of a red panda\u2019s life are fragile, with a mortality rate of roughly 40% for cubs under 1 year of age. <\/p>\n<p>The first cub died at  2 weeks after it became lethargic, stopped nursing and was removed from Ruby\u2019s care into a temperature-controlled incubator to receive intervention from veterinary teams. <\/p>\n<p>The second cub died at  3 weeks after he was also removed from Ruby\u2019s care for hand-raising \u201cdue to inadequate nursing by the cub,\u201d the zoo said in a statement. Preliminary testing showed significant fluid around the cub\u2019s heart and some congestion of the lungs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a heartbreaking loss for everyone \u2014 for those of us caring for Ruby and her cubs, for our entire Zoo team, for our community, and for the broader conservation efforts to protect these endangered red pandas,\u201d Dr. Julie Barnes, vice president of Animal Care &amp; Health at the Santa Barbara Zoo, said in July following the loss of the first red panda.<\/p>\n<p>Ruby had been at the zoo since May 2025 after she traveled from Seneca Park Zoo in New York. The cubs made her a mother for the first time, a hopeful sign for these endangered animals. It\u2019s estimated that fewer than 10,000 exist in the wild.<\/p>\n<p>Raj, Ruby\u2019s 4-year-old partner and father to her cubs, is now the only red panda left at the Santa Barbara Zoo.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 2-year-old red panda named Ruby died at the Santa Barbara Zoo this week, weeks after the deaths of her two newborn cubs. Director of Animal Care Kristen Wieners said Ruby had shown signs of distress last weekend. She was brought to the zoo\u2019s animal hospital and underwent extensive testing, but her condition declined rapidly&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/63f98d9\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/6944x3646+0+493\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffc%2Fce%2Ff3645aa54de9ad8f3187b6dfd91a%2Fredpanda-062526-5-ruby.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}