Rusty the red panda would have gotten away with escape if it weren’t for those meddling kids and their social media. The search for the rare red panda dominated news in Washington DC Monday, becoming a bigger story than the search for Edward Snowden.

The New York Times notes that the zoo welcomed the use of social media, particularly Twitter, in the search for Rusty. After the zoo tweeted that Rusty was missing, it was being retweeted 3,000 times per hour. They also kept Facebook users up to date on its Facebook page.

Several political elites and reporters jumped into the contest for best Rusty joke. Newt Gingrich wrote, “In response to red panda charges, I have an alibi. Callista and I were feeding our pet elephants all evening (just a joke) help find panda.”

But the search blew wide open when Ashley Foughty tweeted a picture of the red panda in her neighborhood at 1:15 p.m. A short time later, zoo staffers were there to make the rescue.

On Facebook, the zoo said that he is doing well and resting at the vet hospital. They still have no idea how he got out of the zoo, so the mystery continues.