Jai-Li the Red Panda’s 15th birthday!

Jai-Li, whose name means “strong and beautiful”, joined us here at Paradise Park in 2012 from Copenhagen Zoo and has been a much-loved part of the Park ever since.

BELOW: Keepers Caitlin, Lauren and Amy present Jai-Li with her awesome birthday cake!

The cake is made of Jai-Li’s normal diet of a high fibre/leafy based dry food and has been soaked with apple and beetroot to help give the colour and helped the Keepers mould the cake into shape, plus some bamboo and fruit treats for decoration.

Over the years, Jai-Li has helped play an important role in the Red Panda breeding programme, raising twin boys in 2013, twin girls in 2014, and boy and girl twins in 2015 before having a single boy called Koda in 2015. Koda went to Chester Zoo to join an unrelated mate and produced grandcubs for Jai-Li, as did many of her young who are playing their part in the international breeding programme.

Today, we’re delighted to share the happy news that, as an older Red  Panda, Jai-Li is doing well and enjoying her special birthday.

The team love working with this special species and are very much looking forward to the arrival of a new breeding pair this summer. Paradise Park has been allocated pandas from Denmark and France so that it can continue its work with for this endangered species. Keep up with Red Panda news on our social media so you can see the first photos of them and to help choose their names.

With thanks to everyone who supports Red Panda conservation through Paradise Park. Your support helps protect wild Red Pandas and their habitats, making days like this even more special.

Read more about our Red Pandas HERE.