{"id":131611,"date":"2025-11-12T18:52:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T18:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/131611\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T18:52:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T18:52:20","slug":"endangered-red-panda-arrives-at-hertfordshire-zoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/131611\/","title":{"rendered":"Endangered red panda arrives at Hertfordshire Zoo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nicola HaselerBedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762860669_614_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/3ef59400-bf17-11f0-aa9c-2dd9cb62df51.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Hertfordshire Zoo A red panda facing the camera. It has a white snout, cheeks, eyebrows and ears, while the rest of its coat is a mix of ginger and black fur. \" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Hertfordshire Zoo<\/p>\n<p>Hertfordshire Zoo has welcomed Nila, a young female red panda, as part of an international breeding programme<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Hertfordshire Zoo has welcomed a young female red panda as part of a breeding programme to try to boost numbers of the endangered species.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Nila, who is 17 months old, was born in Slovakia and has been brought to the UK to be paired with the zoo&#8217;s resident male, Ash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">There are fewer than 10,000 red pandas left in the wild as they are threatened with rapid habitat loss from deforestation in the eastern Himalayas, and the poaching trade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The zoo successfully bred a cub in 2022 with a different pair of red pandas.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762860669_614_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/b8f783e0-bf16-11f0-9b5b-bdadc82a2180.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Hertfordshire Zoo A red pands sits on a tree branch\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Hertfordshire Zoo<\/p>\n<p>Nila the red panda is said to be confidently exploring her new enclosure<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">In the wild, red pandas are often poached for their distinctive fur and forced into the illegal pet trade. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Their habitat, in the dense temperate forests of Asia, is being lost to logging and agricultural expansion. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Nila has arrived under the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria Ex-situ programme, a population management initiative focused on securing a sustainable future for species facing extinction. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The hope is that Nila and Ash will form a successful breeding pair.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762860669_614_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/60fa8830-bf17-11f0-9b5b-bdadc82a2180.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Hertfordshire Zoo A red panda balanced along a tree branch\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Hertfordshire Zoo<\/p>\n<p>Nila is named after a conservationist in Nepal who planted forests to restore panda habitats<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Nila has settled in very well, already exploring her new enclosure with confidence and showing great curiosity toward her keepers,&#8221; said James Cork, head keeper at Hertfordshire Zoo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">She has been named to honour a notable conservationist in Nepal who worked with the Red Panda Network to plant forests to restore their habitat. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Hertfordshire Zoo says the new arrival is an &#8220;intelligent and inquisitive individual&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;We are excited to watch as she and Ash bond over the coming weeks,&#8221; a statement said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Their success will be a direct win for global conservation efforts.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nicola HaselerBedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire Hertfordshire Zoo Hertfordshire Zoo has welcomed Nila, a young female red panda, as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":{"0":"post-131611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}