Nepal community efforts revive Red Panda population

Nepali police officer Jiwan Subba still feels pangs of regret decades after he bludgeoned a strange creature he found wandering in his barn, not realizing it was an endangered red panda.

Red pandas may share a similar name to giant pandas -- due to their bamboo diet -- but the copper-hued mammals with raccoon-like features are much smaller, typically the size of a house cat.

"I was 17 and had no idea what it was. Nobody in our village even knew," Subba, now 48, told AFP.

Today, he is not only aware of the red panda's vulnerability but is actively involved in its protection -- reflecting a broader shift in attitudes spurred by Nepal's extensive community awareness programs.

"I once took a life out of ignorance, but now I work to prevent others from making the same mistake," he said.

"People now understand that red pandas are a protected species."

Population increase

Officials say that Nepal's pioneering community-based conservation work has helped arrest the decline of the cute but skittish bamboo-eaters, which number fewer than 10,000 globally.

Red Panda Network, an organisation leading global efforts to conserve the animal, estimates between 500 and 1,000 of the species live in Nepal.

That is an almost certain increase from an estimated population of somewhere between 300 and 600 by the Himalayan republic's wildlife department in 2011.

"Now, villagers say they can see three or four red pandas on the same day," Red Panda Network's Ang Phuri Sherpa told AFP.

Conservationists say that educational outreach combined with sustainable livelihood programmes has helped improve the effectiveness of Nepal's conservation efforts.

In eastern Nepal, Indigenous inhabitants of the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area switched from raising livestock to cultivating nettle plants to minimise disturbances to red panda habitats.

"We have stopped foraging in the forest so red pandas remain undisturbed," said Chandra Kumari Limbu, a local working on conservation efforts.