The twitterverse was captivated by the National Zoo’s search for its escaped red panda today. The episode sparked a (successful!) city-wide social media campaign to track down the roving critter, and Rusty is now safely back in the hands of zookeepers. We also got to spend the better part of the day looking at pictures of furry animals.

Sometimes an escaped red panda is just an escaped red panda, but never to unfunny people on Twitter. The story proved to be red meat for the anti-government crowd and political junkies, who couldn’t resist linking Rusty’s escape to the dysfunction in Boomtown. For their clumsy appropriation of Rusty’s saga, we award these people zero points:

@JonathanHoenig Even Rusty the Red Panda wants to get away from the socialists in DC

— Captain Awesome (@CaptinAwesum) June 24, 2013

As DC rolls out red tape, the red panda rolls out.

— Riley Keaton (@RileyKeaton) June 24, 2013

The folks who caught the runaway panda should come help catch the Obama Administration’s runaway debt. — Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) June 24, 2013

I blame sequester for the National Zoo’s panda escapade and I am not alone http://t.co/ZAB04VcCJu — Helaine Olen (@helaineolen) June 24, 2013

A runaway red panda can be caught in less than 24 hours, but the US govt can’t get Snowden over several weeks? Panda must have used Verizon. — Amy Kremer (@AmyKremer) June 24, 2013

 

 

Photo courtesy of the National Zoo