Darjeeling Zoo releases 3 red pandas in spl enclosure
DARJEELING: As many as three red pandas from the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP) in Darjeeling were released in a special enclosure at Gairibas in the Singhalila National Park. The three will be later released in the wild as part of Project Red Panda.
"The three female zoo bred red pandas were released in this special enclosure in Gairibas in the Singhalila National Park on Thursday. After a month of observation if everything is fine they will be released in the wild in the Singhalila National Park" stated Dr. Basavaraj Holeyachi, Director, PNHZP. Numa (4year old;) Teesta (2 years) and Neera (2 years) will be radio collared before release in the wild.
The release entitled "Back to the Wild" to augment the Red Panda Population of the Singhalila National Park is a joint project of the PNHZP and Wildlife Division of the Government of West Bengal.
The soft release allows monitoring of zoo bred animals in a controlled, semi-wild environment so that they can get accustomed to the wild before being released. The release is part of the Project Red Panda. Under this project, red pandas are bred in zoos and later introduced in the wild with the aim of re-stocking.
Come January, the three zoo bred red pandas will complete their journey back to the wild as the PNHZP successfully fulfills the primary goal of Project Red Panda.
Red pandas have been listed as endangered under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act. An earlier survey has estimated the number of red pandas to be around 70 in the Singhalila and Neora Valley national parks in the Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts. At present the number of red pandas at the Darjeeling zoo is 29 (including the 3 that have been soft-released.) Darjeeling Zoo, is the coordinating zoo for Project Red Panda in India. The project was initiated in 1990 at the Pnhzp.
In March, three radio collared PNHZP bred Red Pandas were successfully released in the Singhalila National Park after soft release in Gairibas by the PNHZP. "We have been constantly monitoring the three. They are doing fine in the wild" added the Director.
