Red Panda Cub Born!

11th July 2016

Exciting news! Red Panda Jai-Li had a cub at about 6.30pm on July 10th 2016.

This is her seventh cub, in previous years she has had twins, but this year she’s had just one. We’re very happy as it looks, and sounds, like a healthy little cub and Mum is taking really good care of it. We won’t know if it’s a boy or girl until August when it has a health check, and is likely to stay in the den until September. You can follow the progress of the Red Panda cub on the live webcam here

Jai-Li (which means beautiful) was born on 28th June 2011 and came to Paradise Park in 2012 to join Lang-Za, who was born at Marwell Zoo on 16th June 2006 and arrived at the Park back in December 2008.

One of last year’s cubs now all grown up!

The two cubs from last year, Rusty and Scarlet, are now in a new separate enclosure next door. After a successful trial at the beginning of 2016 we plan to re-introduce Red Panda experiences with these two later in the year. These events raised over £500 for the Red Panda Network, which is committed to the conservation of wild red pandas and their habitat through the education and empowerment of local communities. So keep an eye on our website and Facebook/Twitter pages for more news on ‘Red Panda Experiences’ soon.

Paradise Park participates in a Red Panda ‘studbook’, swapping with other collections to keep the captive population healthy in case there might be a need for reintroductions in future years. Recent data suggests that Red Panda population numbers may be as low as 2,500, due to loss of habitat and wildlife trading. The existing population is expected to decline by 10% every 10 years. One way to help is by joining the www.redpandanetwork.org to spread the word, adopting a Red Panda or sponsoring a Forest Guardian. These guardians conduct awareness-building workshops in local villages and schools, do research for the Red Panda Network and establish community-based protected areas.