Given the large number of highly qualified applicants and the remote nature of two of the areas, RPN doubled the number of awards from two to four. We are happy to announce the winners of the Red Panda Network Scholarship Program 2012. See what the winners have to say:

Bishok Dangol: Distribution and Habitat of Red Panda in Jumla, Nepal

I am excited about the results of Red Panda Network’s Scholarship. I am very interested in conservation biology and planning to find work related to it. My initial aim was to work in such fields where I can serve the nature, nation and the people. I choose biodiversity and wildlife conservation as major subject for my M. Sc., which could fulfill my ambition and aim. Dissertation is an important step for career and a base for the future plan and action. Red Panda Network has given me the golden chance to add a brick to build my career. It will also be helpful for me to learn field-based practical techniques and to gather and share project knowledge and experiences. I would, once again, like to thank Red Panda Network for selecting me as a scholarship grantee.

Nirmala Mali: Study on the existing status of Red Panda in Jajarkot District

I, being selected by the Red Panda Network (RPN) for my thesis work, want to express my words of thanks. This award really will be contributing to my future career. Being selected for this research is like being trusted in my ability which inspires me to upgrade my roles and responsibility. This responsibility will drive me to work hard and give my best for this research.
In my view thesis research is a platform to sharpen our skills towards new finding and exploration in the real practical sense. I will be exposing my theoretical ideas to compare with the practical experiences and will be building, comparing and shifting my knowledge from theory towards the practical field. This will provide me ideas for future research and my involvement in the environmental sector and conservation activities. It will be the key to make my career. My research in this thesis work will let me learn more about the wildlife sector and will be providing a platform to present my learning. Red Panda is one of the threatened species needing urgent conservation. So my research on the baseline survey of Red Panda in Khotang district on one hand will be contributing findings to institutions and conservationists working in this sector and on the other hand will develop my skills. In addition to this, since I am keen to work for the conservation of Red Panda, I am looking forward to focus this research in future works too. So, of course it will help me build up my working stamina in the research activities.

Manoj Bhatta: Baseline study and conservation status of Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens) in Jumla, Nepal

It’s my pleasure to be selected as a research grantee from an organization like Red Panda Network (RPN) which is leading in conservation of wild Red Pandas and their habitat.
The Red Panda Network Scholarship Program plays a key role in order to harness the growing energy of young researchers in the field of conservation and also in partial fulfillment of the requirement for thesis year student like me. Further, the scholarship will contribute to gain firsthand experience conducting base line study of Red Panda in Jumla, western Nepal, because so far most of the studies have been conducted in the eastern Nepal. It is expected to acquire research experiences with Red Panda, its ecology, behavior, and habitat requirement which will aid practical conservation management of Nepal.

Badri Baral: Distribution of, and threats to, Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens) in unexplored forest of Jajarkot District, Western Nepal

Thank You Red Panda Network for granting me the Red Panda Network Scholarship 2012. The scholarship holds a good grant amount which can not only support the red panda conservation but also aid in my career. I’ll be using this grant for the base-line study of red panda in an area where no such research has previously been carried out. Moreover, I’ll be able to establish a good relationship with the researchers and experts who have been working on the same field. With reference to their experience and studies I will also be able to enhance and equip my career. My work in the field can be published as documentation which can also be used as a reference for future experts working in the field. This will definitely uplift many similar careers in the coming years.

And the winners are:

A. the red pandas ! With over 5,000 spectators from all the surrounding villages as well as other parts of Nepal and the world who visited the Red Panda Network awareness exhibit, and thousands following the race via the internet, this event has created an amazing boost of awareness for the existence and conservation of the red panda.

B. The Runners:
Full Marathon (Male): 1824 m – 3794 m (over 49 km/30.4 miles)
1. Bed Bahadur Sunuwar – 4 hr 22 minutes 5 sec (Rs. 40,000)
2. Bhumi Raj Rai – 4 hr 24 minutes 25 sec (Rs 30,000)
3. Ram Prashad Dahal – 4 hr 29 minutes 40 sec (Rs. 20,000)

Half Marathon (Female): 1824 m – 2700 m altitude difference
1. Bedana Gurung – 3 hr 47 minute 5 sec (Rs 20,000)
2. Yangmi Lama – 3 hr 48 minutes 10 sec (Rs 15,000)
3. Sunita Limbu – 4 hr 2 minutes 45 sec (Rs 10,000)

Thanks to all the participants, runners, organizers, local partner organizations, and spectators from around the world who made this event such a success !

Click here to find out more about this annual event and about a chance to combine a visit with the rare opportunity to view red panda in the wild with Red Panda Network’s conservation team.

See also Nepal national news coverage: MyRepublica, The Himalayan Times

Male runners at dawn at the Pathibhara Festival Himalayan Guide Marathon 2013, Taplejung, Nepal © Red Panda Network

Women's Half-marathon runners at starting line, Pathibhara Festival Himalayan Guide Marathon 2013, Taplejung, Nepal © Red Panda Network

Some 120 runners, about 20 of them women, are competing in the 2013 Pathibhara Marathon: They start from the Fungling market at 1,824 m (5,984ft), pass through the fragile red panda habitat zone and climb an elevation change of almost 2,000 m (6,400 ft) to the Pathibhara Devi temple and back down again, a total of 49km (standard marathons are 42.2 km/26 miles). The number of runners often increases just before the start as the registration is open until the race begins. The winners are announced on RPN’s website -> here.

The Red Panda Network is supporting the race and the festival with a variety of environmental awareness events as well as by sponsoring T-shirts for all runners. The educational program centers around a joint exhibit presented by RPN and the District Forest Office, WWF-Nepal, CARE, the Federation of Community Forest Users Nepal, and RPN’s Taplejung partner, the Himali Conservation Forum. A variety of non-timber forest products along with an information board about red panda conservation are displayed at the exhibit. More than 500 people visited the exhibit on the first day, and more than 5,000 will see it throughout the 3-day event. And all along the trail, Red Panda Network greets runners and spectators on banners with messages for the conservation of red pandas.

The Red Panda Network is an international conservation group with field offices in Nepal and partners in three other countries of the Himalayas. RPN is committed to save the habitat of the red panda, a charismatic species threatened with extinction which represents an indicator for the health of the Eastern Himalayan Broadleaf Forests that stretch from Nepal in the west through Bhutan, via Northern India and Myanmar, to Sichuan Province in South-Central China. The IUCN red list estimates there are less than 10,000 remaining wild red pandas, some say as few as 2,500, spread thinly across this huge region.
The 2013 Pathibhara Marathon and RPN’s year-around conservation efforts create awareness and enable the local population to stop the massive deforestation, mostly for firewood and livestock that has decimated the habitat and the red pandas by 50% over the past decades. In some areas the red pandas are already extirpated and most of the remaining isolated groups are estimated be too small for long-term genetic health and survival.

In RPN’s Community Conservation Training Center along the trail to the Pathibhara shrine local community members are trained as ‘forest guardians’ and villagers learn about improved cash crop revenues from cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants, fuel efficient wood stoves that can reduce firewood use by more than 50% and avoid respiratory illnesses, proper house insulation, solar and other renewable energy. RPN is currently raising funds to rebuild and expand the center.

The area along the race trail can also be visited with the help of the Red Panda Network, whose forest guardians in eastern Nepal provide one of the few opportunities to view this shy and rare species in its natural environment with a high likelihood of success. Organized with responsible and sustainable practices, these EcoTrips provide income to local communities that otherwise have few incentives to maintain the forest and its endangered species for future generations.

To contact RPN visit www.redpandanetwork.org
Email: communications@redpandanetwork.org
Phone: +1 (877) 584-6056




Co-authored and photos by Damber Bista, © Red Panda Network

In the April 2013 edition of “Wild Travel“, the UK’s only magazine dedicated exclusively to wildlife travel, Dirk Kloss, CEO of the Red Panda Network, explains the science about these endearing climbers and what you need to know to find them in their awe-inspiring Himalayan wilderness.
Find out more about our award-winning EcoTrips -> here.

Download the 7-page feature article with magazine cover as PDF, or read the images below. Look for a chance to win a year’s Red Panda adoption:

 
Ready to come out on one of our unique red panda EcoTrips? The next RPN trips are March/April and October/November.
Want a 15% discount? Bring 3 or more friends and we schedule a customized trip of a lifetime whenever you like.

• Adopt a Red Panda
• Sponsor A Forest Guardian
• Go on an EcoTrip to Nepal with us

Click here to find out “More Ways You Can Help” with no costs to you but potentially big impact for red pandas.

Find out more about our EcoTrips -> here.
The specialized Royle-Safari company in March 2013 guides a photographer tour from the UK and Hong Kong for red pandas, other rare mammals and birds with our tracking teams.
Next trips directly with RPN are each March/April & October/November. If you bring 3 friends or more we schedule a trip at any time you like — with a 15% discount !

Download the Article with magazine cover as PDF, or click the image below to read.

 
RPN Note: To be precise – all the communities we take a jeep or hike to during our main EcoTrips have cozy guesthouse, teahouse, or homestay accommodations. You experience genuine hospitality and are supporting alternative sources of income that enables communities to avoid further deforestation.
Camping is only necessary for hikes to remote forest areas, for example on our new trips tracking for other rare and endangered species.

Friday 08 Feb, 2013 08:28 PM Nepal Time

The Red Panda tale

KATHMANDU: Reddish brown and bushy-tailed, this mammal is the size of a small dog, and mostly eats bamboo. The Red Panda, known in Nepal as Habre, is found in just five countries — Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and China — in the wild. But there are lots of threats to this species in Nepal. Enlisted as ‘vulnerable’ on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and categorised as protected species by the government of Nepal, the Red Panda is currently facing a number of challenges, say experts according to whom a timely initiative is required to ensure its safety.
Range and population
Red Panda has been listed as ‘vulnerable’ because “its population is estimated at less than 10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline of greater than 10 per cent over the next three generations (estimated at 30 years). The population decline in the last three generations (30 years) is estimated to be less than 30 per cent” — the red list mentions. While this is the global situation of Red Panda, “the estimation of potential habitat of Red Panda in Nepal after the study in Cholangpati, a small pocket of Langtang National Park in the early 90s, showed that there are 314 Red Pandas in Nepal,” informs Prof Karan Bahadur Shah, Professor of Zoology, Natural History Museum who is one of the persons involved in making the action plan for Red Panda in Nepal. The same study had estimated the potential Red Panda habitat in Nepal as 912 sq km.
After that there has not been any other study on its population, though Dr Maheshwor Dhakal, ecologist at Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation expresses, “It is estimated there must be some 300 to 500 Red Pandas in Nepal though it is unofficial estimation.” And this species is spread from the eastern-most part of the nation to Mugu in the west, states Prof Shah. Though habitating in eight protected areas of the nation, Dr Dhakal reveals over 50 per cent of the Red Panda population is outside of the national park area.

Lack of study

Despite being on the list of protected species, there has not been proper study of this species be it from government or private sector.
“Because Red Panda is a shy animal, it is difficult to collect data on it,” says Rajiv Paudel, a representative from the Red Panda Network, an institution that has been working on Red Panda in Panchthar, Illam and Taplejung (PIT) districts of eastern Nepal. It is estimated 25 per cent of Red Panda of Nepal are found in the PIT area.
There have been studies on small scales by students for their thesis. “Such studies are done in small areas on a small scale by students for their thesis, but there has not been a study at the national level after Dr Pralhad Yonzon,” says Dr Dhakal. While many point out that because this animal is small and often hides, it is difficult to study the Red Panda, Prof Shah argues, “It is a secretive animal where studies by students is difficult as they have their own limitations of budget and knowledge base, there is need to study this animal at the national level using good methodology.”
Habitat destruction
Destruction of habitat due to human activities and forest fires along with fragmentation of habitat are some of the threats to this animal, as per Dr Dhakal. Prof Shah adds, “In a patch, there are no more than 10 to 20 Red Pandas in the case of Nepal. And there is no corridor to link one patch with another. If a panda in a patch suffers from any communicable disease, the entire population there dies as there is no other place to escape to from there in the absence of linking corridor. ”Linking this instance with ecologically viable population, he further expresses, “Ecologically, the population of any animal should not be less than 200 in one area in order to be a viable population. If it is less, then it is vulnerable.” And one place in China has Red Panda population of over 200, as per Prof Shah who says, “Even in PIT area, they are not more than 100 in an area.”
Poaching
Among the different agencies, the Wildlife Conservation Nepal (WCN) is one that has been working against illegal trade of wildlife. Nabin Gopal Baidya, Programme Officer at WCN shares, “When WCN’s field operatives got the information about the Red Panda skin on the month of August, 2008 it was shocking news to everyone as it was never heard of before. But today it is traded in many parts of the country in the illegal market.” As per data provided by WCN, Nepal Police and WCN seized two Red Panda skins in 2008 and three such skins in 2010. “Such seizures indicate a rise in the demand of Red Panda skin in the illegal market resulting in higher poaching and trading,” he explains. “The skin of Red Panda is used to make hats and other items. It is also said Red Panda meat is served in a restaurant in Hong Kong,” informs Prof Shah adding, “Every year four to five Red Panda skins come to our museum for testing. This year we received around 10 skins.”

Other challenges

In the wild, the survival rate of the Red Panda cub is as low as 50 per cent, says Prof Shah “because Red Panda cubs are very small and hardly 115 grams when they are born”. 
Compared to other places, the situation of Red Panda is quite good in the PIT area, as per Prof Shah, but still there are some threats, argues Paudel. He states, “Besides natural death, the Red Panda here are often killed by Mt Hawk Eagle and hunter dogs. But no illegal hunting has been reported as yet in this area [since RPN started conservation awareness programs (ed. RPN)].”

What should be done?

Sharing about their own instance where the Red Panda Network is working with the local community for protection of Red Panda, Paudel mentions, “From among the community people of PIT area, we have appointed forest guardians, who monitor and collect data of their respective areas. And unless local people are aware, conservation effort cannot be effective.”
Meanwhile, Prof Shah recommends, “Along with creating connectivity of corridors, there is need of translocation and relocation of the animal in the places required.” He also suggests captive breeding of the Red Panda, further advising, “Strict enforcement of law on anti-poaching along with international cooperation is also must.”
© TheHimalayanTimes

WAZA endorsed Red Panda Network in June 2012 as a “Partner of WAZA” and features our project ‘Punde Kundo’ on the WAZA website. Since June we proudly display the WAZA Endorsement on RPN’s ‘Partners and Sponsors‘ page.

Click here to download the complete article from WAZA News 2012-04, Nov, p. 29-30 [PDF], or click the image below to enlarge and read it online.

WAZA News 2012-04, Nov, p29-30: Red Panda Network article by Dirk Kloss, CEO

This seal shows that Red Panda Network was selected as a Partner by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Two Forest Guardians, Dawa Sherpa from Yamphudin Village Development Committee (VDC) and Bikram Limbu from Sikaicha VDC rotated out of the active team and were acknowledged for their efforts over the past two years. The two newly recruited guardians were selected based on their superior qualification and they completed the training successfully. The best four Forest Guardians – from Mamankhe VDC and Kalikhola VDC – received rewards for their outstanding performance. Altogether 14 sets of rain gear were provided to the teams, and for the first time eight sets of GPS (Garmin eTrex 30) were entrusted to the responsibility of each VDC team, which will make their monitoring work more precise and represents a significant development in professionalism and capacity building of the community-based monitoring teams.

Photos from our Forest Guardian Trainings and Monitoring Work

[Show as slideshow]

For more information, early pre-registration, and to view the detailed application guidelines and form, please go to http://redpandanetwork.org/get-involved/scholarship

Contact: Rajiv Paudel
Email: scholarships@redpandanetwork.org

Find out more here: Red Panda Network Research Scholarship Nepal 2012