Here at Paradise Wildlife Park we are coming together to raise awareness for Endangered Species Day which takes place on the third Friday of May each year. This day was founded as a way to remind us of how fragile the existence of some animals, plants and insects are and to encourage us to learn about why it is so important to protect these species. Endangered species are animals, plants or insects that aren’t extinct yet, but may be on the path to extinction if the correct protective measures aren’t taken. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) decides whether an animal is ‘endangered’ based on different criteria. According to the IUCN, at least 40% of animals, insects, and plants are at risk of extinction across the world.

Here at Paradise Wildlife Park, we are home to a range of vulnerable to even critically endangered animals. We work with a variety of conservation partners to work towards protecting their wild counterparts as well as working with the ex-situ breeding programs to protect the genetic gene pool of the species in our care. 

Red Pandas are one of the species here at the park classed as endangered by the IUCN. Home is here at the Park for: Tilly who arrived to us from ZooParc de Beauval when she was 10 months old. She is now 10 years old and Nam Pang who arrived from Highlands Wildlife Park when he was 10 months old. He is now 4 years old, he is a lot more adventurous than Tilly as he likes to explore the higher branches in their tree.

Here at the Park we do training with our Red Pandas, to assist with health checks from the vets. We use positive reinforcement training which means that we offer them a food reward for coming to see us and for participating in the training. All training is done at their own free will and it is their own choice to participate in training. Training is built on a trust relationship between them and their trainer. Therefore, our zookeepers work extremely hard to build a relationship of respect between them and the animals in their care. For example: if  a crate was needed to be used to visit the vet, they might be more hesitant to go into the crate on the next training sessions, but by having built up that trust, it’ll be easier to regain it in the future as it is already established.

Types of training that we do with our pandas:

–    Crate training – for vet purposes. 

–    Station training – to be able to feel the abdomen, this will help us to identify possible pregnancies. Hopefully in the future this could lead us to being able to ultrasound.

–    Open mouth training – this allows us to check their teeth.

–  Injection training – in the event of us needing to inject any medication, this training will allow us to be able to do this.

We offer a Red Panda Experience which acts as beneficial for our Red Pandas. This is a benefit as  the pandas are used to people that they don’t know coming into the enclosure to meet them, this means if we ever need the vet to do any visual veterinary checks, the pandas are not phased by this.

Our conservation partner Red Panda Network has become a world leader in efforts to protect red pandas and their habitat. The year 2010 saw the launch of International Red Panda Day and has since grown to become a day participated by a wide variety of zoos in red panda activities to help raise awareness for this endangered species. Red Pandas live in mountain forests of the Himalayas, at high altitudes due to their arboreal nature with plenty of bamboo. Their diet consists of almost solely bamboo and can eat around 20,000 bamboo leaves a day. Red pandas were discovered in 1825, 48 years prior to the more familiar known black and white pandas. Even though they are not related, they both hold the name of panda; a mispronunciation of the Nepalese word ‘Ponya’, which means ‘eater of bamboo’. However, due to the exploitation of forest resources and fragmentation, accessibility to bamboo and trees for arboreal living is becoming increasingly more scarce.