Gaurishankar's rangers are mapping where red pandas still live

Rangers in Nepal's Gaurishankar Conservation Area are treating red pandas as a species they can still map, even without a finished head count. Radio Nepal reported on October 16, 2026, from Dolakha that the animals are present in Dolakha, Ramechhap, and Sindhupalchok, and that the exact number is not yet known.

Office chief Santosh Sherchan called the red panda a small protected animal and said looking after it is both a duty and a responsibility. The work under way includes habitat protection, ponds for water, surveys of scat, footprints, and fur, a red panda park, camera traps, and the marking of pocket areas and trails. Conservation officer Bidur Khadka said the animals live between about 10 and 25 degrees Celsius and from 2,200 to 4,800 meters, in dense bamboo and nigalo. Adults are about 40 to 64 centimeters long and around 5 kilograms. Local people told the station that when bamboo shoots, a panda sometimes comes near a settlement.

Named spots include Khare-Sothali, Marbu, and the Rolwaling villages in Dolakha, Chuchure and Gumdel in Ramechhap, and Ghorthali, Listi, and Tatopani in Sindhupalchok. Khadka said roads, poaching, and broken forest are the pressures. The office is studying a pocket area and trail on the Marbu-Chhorolpa route, running awareness sessions for schools, tourism workers, and walkers, and watching for snares. The report is a work plan and a set of known places. It is not a population estimate.