International Red Panda Day

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Help us save wild red pandas like this one that was captured for sale in Nepal. Photo: Sonam Lama, our staff member who helped with the release

Follow the lead of amazing children like Hailey Sun Smith, who inspired the Park School in Baltimore, Maryland to hold an elaborate, spontaneous International Red Panda Day celebration or Children’s book author, Leeza Hernandez, who created the newest batch of Red Panda Rangers at Westminster School in New Jersey. Join an expected 100,000 visitors at more than 40 zoos worldwide and over 1,000 students at schools in 5 states and abroad that are helping us create as many Red Panda Rangers as possible in a single day.

Hailey with her red panda, Sita

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-> Download the new 2013 activity booklet with games and educational tools to see how to participate.

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-> Confirm Your Participation Today!

What is a Red Panda Ranger? A Red Panda Ranger is a special title given to children that help spread the word about red pandas. Look in our activity booklet to see what activities you can do for International Red Panda Day to become a red panda ranger.

Leeza Hernandez, with the Westminster Red Panda Rangers.

Contributions received from International Red Panda Day will support our red panda habitat work: research, conservation, and education, including the operation of a new community conservation center in Nepal. The Red Panda Network Community Conservation Resource Center is a community initiative located on the route to Pathibhara shrine, an important Hindu pilgrimage site on the peak of a mountain, in Taplejung district of northeastern Nepal.

The Center will be located at the crossroads of two major trekking trails, the pilgrimage trail to Pathibhara, which attracts 50,000 visitors a year, and the trekking route to Mount Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, which attracts 2,000 foreign tourists a year.

Our plan is to begin construction of the first phase of the Center on International Red Panda Day 2013.

The goal of the Center is to educate visitors on the value of their local natural resources and the unique endangered species that call the region home, focusing on red panda. It hopes to be a demonstration site for innovative conservation technology that local villagers can implement in their own villages and homes.

You can also help by visiting one of the participating organizations listed below or contact your nearest zoo (click here » to find one that has red pandas) or school and ask them to participate. Thank You !
Follow the lead of Hailey and create International Red Panda Day in your community today. Hailey and Leeza did it at our world’s first international red panda day in 2010. You can do it now if you like. Just join in on the fun!

Campaign Details

What: International Red Panda Day

When: Saturday September 21, 2013, 11:00AM to 4:00PM (third Saturday of September every year)

Where: Check with your local zoo or school for participation details, or click on the links below for more information on current participating organizations.

Downloads: 2013 Activity Booklet (PDF English; right-click, then ‘Save link’ or ‘Save target as…’)
If you loved a game from the 2012 Activity Packet feel free to download those, too. (PDF English)
2012 Aktivitätspaket Roter Panda Tag (PDF German/Deutsch)

The following Organizations already registered to celebrate IRPD 2013 with us (Sep. 21, 2013 unless other date noted, alphabetical by city. Scroll down for who participated in previous years.)

Charles Paddock Zoo – Atascadero, CA USA
Tierpark Berlin – Berlin, Germany
Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park – Binghamton, NY USA
Birmingham Zoo – Birmingham, AL USA (Aug 21)
Zoo New England – Boston, MA USA
Paradise Wildlife Park – Broxbourne, Hertfordshire UK (all weekend Sept. 14-15 )
Parco Natura Viva – Garda Zoological Park – Bussolengo, VR, Italy (Sept. 14 all day, and special evening guided tours and dinner. All of September is Asia month with educational activities for children !)
Chattanooga Zoo – Chattanooga, TN USA (Sept. 14)
Edmonton Valley Zoo – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (Sept. 29)
Granby Zoo – Granby, QC Canada
Greenville Zoo – Greenville, SC USA
Houston Zoo – Houston, TX USA (Usually first weekend in December)
Potter Park Zoo – Lansing, MI USA (Sept. 29)
Henry Vilas Zoo – Madison, WI USA
Zoo Aquarium Madrid – Madrid, Spain
Diergaarde Blijdorp (Rotterdam Zoo) – Rotterdam, Netherlands
Sacramento Zoo – Sacramento, CA USA (probably Sept. 7)
Roots and Shoots – Sacramento, Kathmandu, Brisbane Australia, and many other locations
Potawatomi Zoo – South Bend, IN USA
Toronto Zoo – Toronto, Ontario Canada (in October)
Many schools around the world are preparing their events. Our Roots & Shoots volunteers and staff in Nepal will again celebrate IRPD in schools and several rural communities, from the capital Kathmandu all the way up to the remote villages of the Eastern highlands.

A record number of organizations celebrated IRPD with us in 2012 – Thank You!
(Sep. 15, 2012 unless other date noted, alphabetical by city. Let us know if we missed one.)

Charles Paddock Zoo – Atascadero, CA USA had a fantastic Conservation Celebration on Sept. 22 and created 27 Red Panda Rangers, check out the photos! )
Zoo Atlanta – Atlanta, GA USA (Thanks to all the participants in the three awareness activities, the biofacts cart, and the ongoing red panda book readings!)
Auckland Zoo – Auckland, New Zealand
Tierpark Berlin – Berlin, Germany
Miller Park Zoo – Bloomington, IL USA
Birmingham Zoo – Birmingham, AL USA (Thanks for raising $231 !)
Zoo New England – Boston, MA USA
Alma Park Zoo – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (Sept. 16; Thanks for an action-packed event, and for raising AU$500; See poster)
Paradise Wildlife Park – Broxbourne, Hertfordshire UK (all weekend Sept. 15-16. Thanks for a raising $757 and sharing your illustrated report (p 1, p 2, p 3) of all the exciting activities. )
Parco Natura Viva – Garda Zoological Park – Bussolengo, VR, Italy (Sep 15 all day, and special evening guided tours and dinner. Thank You for a memorable Awareness Day, and for raising over $3,800 for red panda conservation !)
Fota Wildlife Park – Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork, Ireland (all weekend Sept. 15-16 )
Chattanooga Zoo – Chattanooga, TN USA
Marwell Wildlife – Colden Common, Winchester, Hampshire, UK
Welsh Mountain Zoo – Colwyn Bay, Conwy, North Wales, UK (Monday Sept. 17)
Edmonton Valley Zoo – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (Sept. 30)
Sequoia Park Zoo – Eureka, CA USA (Sunday Nov. 11with Free Zoo Day for Veterans’ Day). Thank you Redwood Coast AAZK for this huge success with over 1500 visitors and $530 raised for red panda conservation!
Naturschutz-Tierpark Görlitz – Görlitz, Germany
Greenville Zoo – Greenville, SC USA
Paradise Park – Hayle, Cornwall UK (Aug 4-5, Thanks for raising awareness and $400 ! See pictures below.)
Helsinki Zoo (Korkeasaari) – Helsinki, Finland (Thank You for making Red Pandas both a star the night of Sept 14th as well as all day on Sept 15th)
Houston Zoo – Houston, TX USA (Thanks for the spectacular Spotlight On Species red panda event all weekend Dec 1 & 2, and for raising $1,360 for RPN’s work!)
ETSU and GSB Natural History Museum and Gray Fossil Site – Johnson City, TN USA (Oct 6)
Kansas City Zoo – Kansas City, MO USA (Nov. 10, check out the 58 images of new red panda rangers)
Potter Park Zoo – Lansing, MI USA (Sept. 16; Thanks for raising $314 !)
Henry Vilas Zoo – Madison, WI USA (Thanks for the exciting event with ‘painting’ red pandas, cool self-made magnets, and raising $1457 for our conservation work!)
Zoo Aquarium Madrid – Madrid, Spain
Minnesota Zoo – Minneapolis, Apple Valley, MN USA
Children’s Museum of South Carolina – Myrtle Beach, SC USA
Newquay Zoo – Newquay, Cornwall UK
Prague Zoo – Prague, Czech Republic (Sept. 16)
Sacramento Zoo – Sacramento, CA USA (Sept. 15 and 16; Thanks to zoo staff and R&S teen volunteers for a fantastic awareness weekend with many stations, and for raising $463 ! And big Thanks to the zoo shop for donating $2 for every large and $1 for small red panda plushes sold.)
San Diego Zoo – San Diego, CA USA
Laloo, LLC - San Francisco, CA USA (huge launch party Sept. 15 in Pune, India)
Roots and Shoots – San Francisco, Sacramento, Kathmandu, North Carolina State, Brisbane Australia, and many other locations
Woodland Park Zoo – Seattle, WA USA (celebrated Aug 4 )
Potawatomi Zoo – South Bend, IN USA (Thanks to zoo volunteers and visitors for a great event, panda painting auction and meet & greet, and for raising $125 !)
Toronto Zoo – Toronto, Ontario Canada Vienna Zoo – Tiergarten Schönbrunn – Vienna, Austria (all weekend Sept. 15-16 )
Longleat Safari and Adventure Park – Warminster, Wiltshire, UK
Essex County Turtle Back Zoo – West Orange, NJ USA
Wexford Children’s Center - Wexford, PA USA
Zagreb Zoo – Zagreb, Croatia
Many schools around the world are preparing their events. Our Roots & Shoots volunteers and staff in Nepal celebrated IRPD in some 5 schools and several rural communities, from the capital Kathmandu with a school trip to a National Park, and all the way up to the remote villages of the Eastern highlands.