Curraghs Wildlife Park has announced the sad death of one of its red panda cubs.

Kamal and his twin sister, Aria, were born to parents, Sara and the infamous Kush, who made two daring escapes last year.

At six weeks old, both cubs were healthy but two weeks later, Kamal had developed a persistent shake which staff were unable to treat, despite working with vets and experts in red panda care.

A spokesman for the park said: ’We tried a course of antibiotic treatment which may have worked if his shake was not neurological but it made no difference.

’In all this time he continued to be cared for by mum Sara in the box and otherwise was still developing fine and gaining weight. We took samples of blood when he was old enough to get the required amount to run a whole range of tests for analysis but alas potential causes such as thyroid issues, toxoplasmosis or toxins were not evidenced and we concluded it was most likely neurological and non-treatable.’

Keepers noticed Kamal was unable to use his rear legs and made the difficult decision to put him to sleep.

’Although difficult for staff, who have invested so much dedication, we all know it was the right decision,’ the spokesman added.

’We hope a full postmortem may give us some answers and will be a useful case study for other zoos and vets involved in the Red Panda breeding program. We are also still delighted to have one healthy cub this year.’