SINGAPORE — River Safari’s female red panda has died at age five. 

The red panda, named Poonya, had been suffering from gut infection and was under treatment since last Thursday (Jan 7). It died on Wednesday at 1am, said Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) today. 

“Despite keepers and vets providing 24-hour intensive care, her condition deteriorated,” WRS said in a statement. It said it hopes to bring in another female panda.

Poonya arrived at River Safari in 2012, along with a male red panda named Puska from Johannesburg Zoo, South Africa.

Victims of deforestation, red pandas are listed as endangered under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Also known as lesser pandas, they share a similar diet and habitat as the giant panda, but is more closely related to raccoons and weasels instead of bears. 

The female red pandas, like the giant pandas, give birth once a year. However, while the giant pandas often have a single cub, red pandas have litters of two to four cubs.

Its average life span in the wild is eight years.