Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens) called Habre in the native language is one of the Endangered mammal of Nepal. The word pandan Nepal, known populations occur in . comes from the Nepalese ?poonya? which means bamboo eater. They are found from the temperate Himalayan forests of western Nepal to the high mountain slopes of southwestern China.

Increase in the population and deforestation has resulted in to the loss of habitat of Red Panda in Nepal. Red panda?s bamboo forest homes cut down and cleared for timber, fuel and agriculture land, pushing them to more remote, fragmented  and often unprotected  mountain areas.Protecting the red panda and its fragile environment is vital to preserving the region?s natural heritage and global biodiversity.

Red panda has been protected in Nepal through government of Nepal,  WWF as well as local communities. Protecting the endangered species by WWF includes conducting in-depth field studies on red panda ecology, behavior, habitat and distribution range to improve effective conservation, identifying potential red panda habitats suitable for protection, developing a broad-based awareness programme on red pandas to make local communities more aware about the importance of the species within the mountain ecosystem.Red Panda is protected in Nepal at Langtang National Park, Annapurna Conservation Area, Sagarmatha National Park, Manaslu Conservation Area, Makalu Barun National Park andKangchenjunga Conservation Area.

The survival of the red panda and the protection of its habitat will ensure that people living in the region continue to reap ecosystem benefits for many generations.

Reference: http://www.wwfnepal.org/what_we_do/wildlife/red_panda/
Photo: WWFNepal / Kamal Thapa