Oregon Zoo’s Red Panda Cub Needs A Name

Posted By : The Animal Facts Editorial Team

Date: September 18, 2020 11:30 pm

The red panda cub at Oregon Zoo

Photo Credit: Oregon Zoo

Oregon Zoo is asking members of the public to help decide the name for their red panda cub born in June.

The naming of the cub has been given to the Oregon Zoo foundation who are using it to raise funds to support the zoo which has faced a challenging year. They are running a raffle with the winner receiving the chance to meet the red panda keepers and help them decide the name.

A winner will be announced at the Oregon Zoo’s online Zoo Rendezvous — presented by Banfield Pet Hospital, KGW, PGE and The Standard. The event will fund important enhancements to three new animal areas at the zoo, and support the zoo’s vital efforts in animal care, education and conservation.

Raffle participants must be 18 years or older and must be in the state of Oregon at that time of purchase.

The red panda cub at Oregon Zoo

Photo Credit: Oregon Zoo

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“Mei Mei has been a terrific mom so far, and her boy appears to be in great health,” said Amy Cutting, who oversees the zoo’s red panda area. “He’s curious and active, and he has been venturing outdoors quite a bit. Now we need to find a name that suits him.”

Mei Mei is an experienced mother with this being her second set of cubs with father, Moshu. The pair welcomed their previous cubs when they lived at Nashville Zoo. They moved to Oregon Zoo in 2019.

The red panda cub at Oregon Zoo

Photo Credit: Oregon Zoo

As few as 2,500 red pandas may remain in the wild. “Fifty years ago, red pandas had healthy populations throughout the eastern Himalayas,” Cutting said. “But they’ve been disappearing at alarming rates. Hopefully, we can start a new chapter in the conservation of a species that is sharply declining in the wild.”

Learn more about red pandas here – Red Panda Fact File | The Animal Facts

Learn more about Oregon Zoo on their website – Oregon Zoo