The Roanoke Times | File August
Archibald, a red panda who was 2 months old when this photo was taken, will soon move to Brookfield Zoo in Chicago with his sister, Beatrix Kiddo. The cubs are now almost 1 year old.

By Ralph Berrier Jr. ralph.berrier@roanoke.com 981-3338

Archibald and Beatrix Kiddo are leaving the Mill Mountain Zoo.

The red panda siblings that were born last year at the zoo will be transferred to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago as soon as June 8, said Lucy Cook, Mill Mountain Zoo’s executive director.

The move, which is recommended by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan, comes right before the cubs turn 1 year old.

Archibald and Beatrix were born June 15, 2015, as part of Mill Mountain Zoo’s breeding program for threatened species. For some reason, the cubs’ mother stopped nursing Archibald, so he had to be hand-raised for several months by the zoo’s animal curator Robin Lentz and zookeeper Jessica Fizer.