More endangered red pandas have been found in the Jaljala, Muna and Mareni areas of Wards No. 2 and 3 of Dhawalagiri Rural Municipality. For this, three cameras were installed in the area, and red pandas were found in two.

'During a month-long field study, a camera was taped after a red panda's feces was found,' said Pawan Rai, program officer of the Biodiversity Conservation Society Nepal. 'Our study has confirmed that 6 to 25 red pandas live in that area.'

A team of researchers, including locals, conducted a field study to determine whether red pandas were present in Dhaulagiri's Khiwang, Mudi, Arche, Dar, Takam, Bagar, Simkosh, Italy Base Camp, Mareni, Lulang, Gurjakhani, Gurja Deurali areas. Locals had released photos and videos of the red pandas found in Gurjaghat of Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve in 2080 Asoj and Bancharedanda area of ​​Dahapatal Community Forest in Muna in 2081 Mangsir.

In 2073, researchers from the Red Panda Network and the Himalayan Conservation Forum, with financial support from the World Wildlife Fund and the Green Forest Program, found the remains of a red panda in Mareni, a watershed area. Researcher Larissa Gautam said that by bringing tourists to see the red pandas in this area, income and employment opportunities could be created in the community. 'In the Jaljala area, which is close to the tourist capital Pokhara, being able to observe the mountains and the beautiful hilly geography along with the red pandas is a unique feature compared to other places where red pandas are found,' she said. 'Sports competitions, housing and trekking routes can be conducted in conjunction with the red pandas.'

Division Forest Office Chief Bishnu Prasad Adhikari said that although there is no exact count of the red pandas in the forests of Gurja, Lulang and Muna, it is estimated that there are many. Red pandas, which roost in tree trunks at night and rest on tree branches during the day, are said to come down to the ground to eat reed shoots and other weeds when they are hungry. 

The red panda's food supply is sufficient in reeds, palingo, and fallen trees in the Gurja, Lulang, and Muna forests. The red panda has been listed as a protected species under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 2029. 

There is a legal provision that those involved in poaching red pandas will be imprisoned for one to 10 years and fined between one hundred thousand and five hundred thousand, or both. According to the latest study, the number of red pandas in Nepal is estimated to be between five hundred and one thousand. The red panda is found only in Nepal, China, India, Bhutan, and Myanmar in the world. According to researchers, the red panda is of the Allureans fusion species in Nepal. 

Conservation program implemented

Meanwhile, with the financial support of donor agency Toledo, the Biodiversity Conservation Society Nepal (BioCase) Nepal has implemented a conservation program in the Jaljala, Muna and Mareni areas of Dhaulagiri-2 and 3, where the red panda lives.

The government has listed the red panda, which lives at an altitude of 2,200 to 4,500 meters above sea level, as an endangered wildlife species. Biodiversity Conservation Society Nepal President Laxman Prasad Poudel informed that a public awareness program will be conducted at the community level for red panda conservation in coordination with the Division Forest Office, Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve and related local levels.

'There are challenges in increasing the number of red pandas and their conservation due to poaching, fires, road expansion and human activities,' he said, 'We have made efforts to conserve them by explaining the importance of red pandas at the community level.'