SAVE THE RED PANDA
Saving The Red Panda
What Can We Do To Help?
Glad you asked! In 2015 the IUCN identified five major ways we can help save the red panda population and protect its natural habitat. Two of them being planting more bamboo and reducing livestock that tramples undergrowth.
Planting More Bamboo & Reducing Livestock
Langtang National Park in Nepal is home to 38% of the entire living red panda population as well as a primary resource for the 30,000 people who live in communities nearby. “In attempting to feed and provide for their families, people unwittingly destroy the forest resources that also diminish the healthy environment they base on.” (Dunagan, 2019) One example of this would be how they graze cattle in order to obtain milk for local cheese factories, which leads to overgrazing. On top of this trees are being cut down for fuel, and as a result bamboo habitat underneath trees is being lost. This is bad for both the red panda and humans. Although the red panda is considered a part of the carnivorous group of mammals its diet consists mostly of bamboo shoots. (Animals, 2019) The forest must have a bamboo understory for it to be viable for the red panda; This is because bamboo makes up 85-95% of their diet, without it red pandas would likely starve to death. (Bradford , 2016) Bamboo is also important for humans, it absorbs CO2 and releases over 30% more oxygen than trees. Bamboo is also a healthy food source, one serving of bamboo shoots provides you with 10% of your daily recommended intake. (Botanicals, 2019) By planting more bamboo we are not only helping the red panda and its habitat, but ourselves.
Some other ways we can help save the red panda include: requiring tourist permits, restricting entry during breeding season (late fall through winter), and working towards strengthening and enforcing hunting and poaching laws. (Dunagan, 2019) Even small things like spreading awareness to friends and family can make a real difference! It's important that we all do our part and take action in saving the red pandas as well as other endangered species from extinction because it's thanks to us and human activities such as deforestation, habitat fragmentation, overgrazing, and illegal hunting that these species are endangered in the first place. As humans we have a moral responsibility to protect the earth's species - such as the red panda - from becoming extinct, and to prevent the destruction of the world's ecosystem services.
Protective Laws and Land
The Red Panda is included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix I. It also is listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972, which is the highest protection possible for any species in India. It is also protected in Bhutan, China and is classed as a Category II species under the Wild Animal Protection Law by the Wildlife Act of 1994. In China, the species is Red Listed nationally as Vulnerable under Act A2.
Long Term Protection
To begin, we have to start by replanting all the trees we have been cutting down. Increased amount of trees gives Red Panda’s more food as well as habitat and space. If the pandas were given more space they would not need to interfere with farmers crops.
Current Efforts
There is currently an organization called Red Panda Network who is responsible for starting many reserves and captive breeding programs for these pandas. There was also a new plan in 2012 created which had detailed plans on how to keep the population thriving, that’s when the Red Panda GSMP (Global Species Management Plan) was created. There are also two main forest preservation programs that are vital to protecting the red panda! The Natural Forest Protection Program, which aims to protect and regenerate forests; and the Grain-for-Green Program, which transforms cropland back into forest where animals such as the Red Panda can live once again. All of the agencies are doing their best to help protect the red panda from becoming even more endangered than it already is.
Politics
Red Panda’s are interfering with the expansion and upgrade of infrastructure in the developing parts of Nepal and Myanmar. Things such as highways and railroads are beginning to make their way through undeveloped Red Panda territory. There are some Red Panda’s in captivity though, which are mainly being used to educate the public and keep the population somewhat stable.