New Delhi, May 10: In an ambitious effort, Darjeeling zoo is set to take the first steps towards releasing Red Pandas into the wild to infuse "new blood" and help build a "viable" population of this endangered Himalayan animal.

It`s touted as the first such attempt in India after an experiment with ghariyals and crocodiles in the 1960s.


By the month-end, two female Red Pandas, between two and three years old, are to be shifted to an "intermediary release facility" in the Singalila national park, bordering Nepal.

It`s essentially part of the park, fenced off to give them time to acclimatise to a new home and adjust to fending for themselves. By September or October, they will be out in the park, hopefully mixing with their wild colleagues and mating successfully.

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If this small beginning is successful, the zoo plans to release more Red Pandas each year into the national park over the next decade, perhaps later even introducing them into the Senchal wildlife sanctuary.


"The stakes are high," admits B R Sharma, director of Darjeeling`s Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park. Central Zoo Authority secretary P R Sinha says the move will draw attention to the Red Panda`s plight. It is also part of a survival attempt by zoos to reinvent themselves, from being "centres of recreation to centres of conservation".

Two other similar projects will follow: With the lion-tailed macaques of the Western Ghats and the pigmy hog in Assam.


But pandas go first. Why choose two females, and not a pair? For one, to guard against inbreeding, restock and infuse ‘new blood` into Singalila`s 75 Red Pandas. As the country`s only zoo to host Red Pandas, Darjeeling zoo has had to bring in panda mates from Europe. It has 21 animals; four more are with the Sikkim zoo.

The second reason: If these female pandas mate successfully next February-March, cubs will be a "sure" sign of stabilisation. Radiocollared pandas will have their progress tracked.


It`s taken years of spadework to get to this threshold, says Sinha. The animals had to be identified, they have undergone health checks, their DNA analysis reports are in from Hyderabad — all proving their fitness for release.



The habitat into which they will be released has also been assessed. About Rs 13 lakh has been spent on the facility where the pandas will first be kept, away from the public gaze and forced to forage for their own bamboo. The only concession, says Sharma, is the diversion of a water pipeline.



Meetings have been held with people living on the fringes of the park, all on the Nepalese side of the border, to win support for the project. Sharma doesn`t anticipate a major threat from poaching or from leopards. "There are very few leopards," he says. And if the pandas do fall prey? That`s part of life, is the response. Bureau Report