Saskatoon zoo's popular red panda moving

Saskatoon is going to miss Phoenix the red panda when he leaves for another zoo next month, but no one will miss Phoenix more than Tim Sinclair-Smith.

I call him the surfer dude of the Red Panda world.-Tim Sinclair-Smith

Sinclair-Smith is the manager of the Forestry Farm Park and Zoo, and he spoke about his long standing relationship with the red panda on CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning.

"I have known him his whole life," said Sinclair-Smith. "It wasn't an easy decision to make because I do have that connection."

"I call him the surfer dude of the red panda worldhe's so chilled out."

Red panda off to find a mate

Phoenix isn't owned by Saskatoon zoo, and is part of a species survival plan.

"Sometimes animals get moved around and that's because they are trying to diversify the genetics in a small population of animals," said Sinclair-Smith.

"I'm sure at some stage that Phoenix is going to get lucky."

Just exactly where this hunt for a mate is taking the red panda, Sinclair-Smith won't say. Instead, he is leaving it up to the new host zoo to make the big announcement.

Sinclair-Smith did offer one hint:

"It is in Canada."

Loss a gain for other animals at the zoo

While there may be some sadness over the loss of this "chilled out" red panda the move will actually benefit quite a few species at the zoo, in particular the wolves, which have long lived in an inadequate space. When Phoenix leaves his enclosure, the wolves will move right in.

"By one animal leaving we are able to make the lives better for a whole bunch of other animals," said Sinclair-Smith.