KATHMANDU — During the COVID-19 lockdown in Nepal, red panda conservation campaigner and researcher Sonam Tashi Lama came across a public service announcement on African rhinos, featuring action superstar Jackie Chan. “I was blown away by the concept and the performance,” Lama said. It got him wondering whether a similar PSA could be produced by Nepali artists, depicting Nepali culture, to save the red panda (Ailurus fulgens), an endangered species. He approached actor and filmmaker Dayahang Rai, who had recently been appointed a conservation ambassador for the red panda. “We didn’t have access to the technology used in the Jackie Chan video, but we had good actors and good concepts that we could make use of,” Lama, a recipient of the prestigious Whitley Award in 2022, told Mongabay. Rai was busy with numerous other projects at the time, but was sold on the concept. “He instantly agreed to the idea,” Lama said. A red panda being collared in Nepal. Image courtesy of Damber Bista Red pandas, found in India, Nepal, Bhutan and China, face threats ranging from habitat loss to illegal trapping and poaching, to accidental snaring in traps set for other animals. The species is categorized as endangered on the IUCN Red List and is included in Appendix I of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, making its trade illegal. It’s estimated that of the fewer than 15,000 individuals that remain in the wild, around 500 roam in Nepal’s hills, where they thrive in bamboo forests. Research shows that…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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