The state forest department released a pair of Himalayan Red Pandas from the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP) of Darjeeling at the Singalila National Park of the same district on Wednesday.

This is the third time since 2022 that red pandas have been released into the wild.

“We have successfully released Nova and Asha, two female red pandas, at the Singalila National Park on Wednesday. Both the animals are two-and-a-half years old,” said Basavraj S. Holeyachi, the director of PNHZP.

The pandas were released in the Gairibas area of the national park in the presence of J.V. Bhaskar, the chief conservator of forests (wildlife, north), director of the park, and other foresters of Darjeeling forest division.

After these releases, there are around 20 red pandas in the hill zoo now, eight male and 12 female.

“As of now, we have made soft release of the red pandas into the wild. They would be radio-collared later so that we can monitor their movement,” Basavraj said.