Death of red panda cub in Toronto not linked to COVID vaccine

CLAIM: The recent death of a red panda cub at Canada’s Toronto Zoo was related to the COVID-19 vaccine.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The cub that died was not vaccinated against COVID-19, a spokesperson for the zoo said. While the cause of death is not yet known, red panda cubs have a high mortality rate.

THE FACTS: The Toronto zoo on Monday announced the death of the 3-month-old red panda cub, referred to as “Baby Spice” but recently dubbed Dash following a naming contest.

Soon after, erroneous suggestions emerged on social media linking the death to the COVID-19 vaccine.

“They killed the red panda,” reads a tweet that received more than 5,000 likes.

The tweet included screenshots of two headlines: On the left, a headline from April reported that the zoo had received COVID-19 vaccines for its animals. On the right was a headline about the panda cub’s death.

But there is no connection between the two, a spokesperson for the zoo told The Associated Press.

“Dash did not receive the Covid vaccine,” Amy Naylor said in an email. “A post-mortem was conducted to collect samples for additional testing which will be required to better understand the possible cause of the rapid decline of this animal. Until the results are available to us, we are unable to definitively state the cause of death.”

The zoo also posted a statement responding to the false claim on Twitter.

Dash showed no signs of illness on Saturday but by Sunday morning was lying on his side and weak, the zoo said. Attempts to treat him were unsuccessful.

Red pandas are difficult to breed, the zoo added. Many pregnancies are lost and the zoo estimated that approximately 40% of cubs die within one year.

The Sacramento Zoo similarly noted that red panda cubs have a high mortality rate when one of its cubs died in 2018.

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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.