Raccoon may have been stolen from SW China zoo  

云南野生动物园一只浣熊疑被偷 与游人见面仅五天

9月16日，云南野生动物园开放了国内第一个可以与浣熊零距离接触的“浣熊家族”，48只浣熊与民众亲密接触。记者22日从云南野生动物园获悉，仅仅过了一个中秋小长假，即有一只浣熊失踪，疑被人顺走。[查看全文]

(ECNS) -- A raccoon kept at a zoo in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, went missing only five days after the park began allowing tourists to play with the animals, chinanews.com has reported.

A zoo attendant noticed on Sunday morning that "Diandian," one of 48 raccoons at the Yunnan Wild Animal Park, was missing. After finding no holes in the fence, the park estimated that "Diandian" might have been stolen by visitors.

There was a large influx of visitors during the past Mid-Autumn Festival, and there were as many as 100 visitors playing with raccoons at the same time on the second day of the holiday, according to the zoo.

The zoo said it found no clues from a video recording, but that the total number of visitors reached 8,000 and many of them carried bags.

Li, the raccoon's keeper, said "Diandian" is a little chubby and likes to be near people.

Li Youlong, the manager of the zoo, said keeping raccoons by citizens is forbidden in China.