We need your help to protect red pandas from poachers and restore their forest habitat. All gifts matched dollar-for-dollar by First Panda Challengers. #NoPandaPoaching #PlantARedPandaHome

Learn about red pandas, their threats and our community-based efforts to save them in this presentation by Red Panda Network's Sonam Tashi Lama, Program Coordinator, and Terrance Fleming, Development Manager on Saturday, September 18 2021 at 830 AM Pacific Time. Watch it live here or on Facebook!

Here's how:

Start A Fundraiser - click on the 'Fundraise' button at the top of the page to start a campaign in minutes. Check out our IRPD 2021 fundraising toolkit for everything you need to fundraise for the first panda. The team member who raises the most funds will win a poster of the 2nd place (public vote) winner of the IRPD 2021 logo contest by Catarina Monteiro (design below!). And thanks to a team of awesome donors, all campaign gifts are matched 1:1!

Organize an Event - Work with the zoo, school or business you work at or attend to celebrate this important day for education and conservation. Register your event here and be sure to check out the IRPD 2021 Activity Book designed by Darby Minter!

Become a Red Panda Ranger - This is a fun and educational opportunity for kids to help us raise red panda awareness They will receive a badge for every level they complete and an official certificate when they finish all five levels!

Spread The Word - tell your friends and family on social media why you love red pandas and why you are celebrating IRPD 2021! Include a fact banner (coming soon!) in our post and include these hashtags: #IRPD2021 #NoPandaPoaching #PlantARedPandaHome

Need more inspiration for IRPD outreach? Learn about red pandas on our facts webpage or factsheet or read 12 Ways Red Pandas Are Unique (and Cute!)

The global red panda population is in decline. It is estimated that there are less than 10,000 remaining in the wild and there may be as few as 2,500.

Habitat loss is the #1 threat to red pandas.

Red panda habitat in Nepal is fragmented into 400 small forest patches. 70% of their habitat lies outside of protected areas in either Community Forests or private land. Forests are fragmented as they are converted to farmland and settlement and degraded by unsustainable livestock grazing and resource harvest by local communities.

Our multi-tiered solution to habitat loss is protection and restoration.

Our education and sustainable livelihood programs are empowering communities in Nepal to protect their forests. Now, we must continue to reforest core habitat, connect fragmented forest and create a wildlife corridor that will sustain a viable red panda population.

Thanks to you, we have planted 137,550 trees in red panda habitat in eastern Nepal so far this year! Our goal now is to expand and reforest nearly 250 acres of core habitat — planting another 100,000 trees in 2022 — to create a continuous wildlife corridor for red pandas and other threatened wildlife in Nepal.

With your help, in 2022, we will also produce 200,000 saplings of native species in our forest conservation nurseries. Some of these will be Non-timber Forest Products (NTFPs) which will be distributed in support of sustainable livelihoods for at least 40 local families!

Learn more about our Plant A Red Panda Home campaign!

No Panda Poaching campaign video.

Unfortunately, there is a growing threat to the survival of these already vulnerable populations: the illegal red panda trade.

In response to an unprecedented rise in red panda poaching in Nepal this year — likely driven by poverty, misinformation and exacerbated by the pandemic — we are committed to educating communities, providing alternative income and sustainable livelihood opportunities, and enhancing the capacity of local and national level law enforcement agencies on anti-poaching investigation skills.

We are urgently fighting misinformation in Nepal on the value of red panda pelts and demand for red pandas among trade market. We are working with popular Nepali actor, director, and playwright, Dayahang Rai, who has joined us as a conservation ambassador. Rai is helping us raise national awareness on this endangered species and why we must stop illegal wildlife crime. We are also working on an outreach video that debunks misconceptions and highlights livelihood alternatives to poaching.

Support awareness campaigns and sustainable livelihood programs that empower local people and stop poaching at its source. Our goal is No panda poaching in eastern Nepal's Panchthar-Ilam-Taplejung (PIT) corridor!

Learn more about our efforts to stop the illegal red panda trade!

Definition of "No Panda Poaching". Photo by Ashley Bowen during RPN ecotrip in Nepal.

Thank you to the zoos and schools around the world for helping us to celebrate IRPD 2021!

Akron Zoological Park
Assiniboine Park
Charles Paddock Zoo
Espace Zoologique Saint-Martin-La-Plain
Giardino Zoologico di Pistoia
GreenBay AAZK
Greensboro Science Center
Le Pal
Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden
Omuta City Zoo
Millbrook School's Trevor Zoo
Parc de Clères
Parc Zoologique et Botanique de Mulhouse
Pueblo Zoo
Rosamond Gifford Zoo
Reserve zoologique de la Haute Touche
Sequoia Park Zoo
Toronto Zoo/AAZK Southern Ontario Chapter
Ueno Zoological Gardens
Woburn Safari Park
Yorkshire Wildlife Park
Zoo Atlanta
Zoo d'Amiens
Zoo de Lille
Zoo Duisburg AG

International Red Panda Day 2021

By Red Panda Network

International Red Panda Day 2021

Protect. Restore. Celebrate!