Female Red Panda to arrive from Denmark!

Lang Za awaiting the arrival of the female Red Panda

A young female Red Panda will be arriving at Paradise Park on the evening of 22nd June. She will be with two Paradise Park keepers, who are travelling to Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark to collect her and accompany her to her new home.

Curator David Woolcock explains “She will be joining our resident Red Panda ‘Lang Za’ after his partner ‘Pandora’ passed away last year due to old age. She has been chosen by the Studbook Keeper for this rare species as a good genetic match for him.
We plan to release her into the enclosure early on Saturday morning (23rd). It will take her a while to adjust to her new surrounds and Lang Za, so there is no guarantee she will been seen immediately as she has the option of going into a den and hiding for a while.”

The new Red Panda was born on 28th June 2011, so at one year old is the perfect age to leave her parents. It is possible that the new pair might produce cubs next summer.

The advantage of the keepers going to Denmark is that they can talk to their counterpart at Copenhagen Zoo, see how the young panda’s food is presented, discover her likes and dislikes and see the enclosure where she was born. This helps makes the move as easy for her as possible.

Paradise Park raised over £700 for Red Panda conservation last year and is holding another fun weekend called ‘PANDAMONIUM’ celebrating these wonderful animals, on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th August.

Red Pandas are an endangered species and originate from bamboo forests on the slopes of the Himalayas.