BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – A year after breaking ground, Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo Director Gregg Dancho announced that The Natt Family Red Panda Habitat will open to the public on Saturday, October 13, at 10:30 a.m. The new habitat is possible thanks to two substantial donations: from Bob and Helen Natt of Easton, and a matching grant for monies raised by supporter donations from the Werth Family Foundation.
The spacious new home for Rochan and Meri, the Zoo’s Red panda pair, offers indoor and outdoor viewing and access for the Red pandas, and much larger living quarters. A guest-viewing platform reached by a ramp leads to two views, one into the outdoor exhibit and one into the building. The Red pandas, who prefer cooler temperatures, can choose to be in air conditioning in warm weather. The new habitat features a yard landscaped with bamboo (Rochan and Meri eat approximately 2,000 bamboo leaves daily!), with plenty of treetop spots for sunbathing.
Originally a temporary visitor while his habitat at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, Mass., was undergoing renovations, Rochan became a permanent member of the Zoo family in October, 2015. Meri, short for Meriadoc, arrived in February 2018 from the Brandywine Zoo in Delaware. Red pandas are vulnerable in the wild, with fewer than 10,000 adult Red pandas in existence. As a result, they are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Plan (SSP), which manages specific, typically threatened or endangered species populations. Inter-regional transfers are managed by the SSP in the hope that successful breeding will take place.
Bob Natt said, “Helen and I have been going to Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo since we moved to Connecticut in 1985, first with our children and now with our four grandchildren. We consider the Zoo to be one of the great family destinations in Connecticut and welcome the opportunity to help provide the funding for the beautiful habitat for the Red pandas.”
Natt, who is recently retired, was formerly Executive Chairman of Alegeus, a Boston-area based health care payments technology company.
“Donations from private funding make our expansion possible. The new habitat was named for the Natt Family due to their extreme generosity,” Dancho said. “We’re also grateful to the Werth Family Foundation for their sizeable contribution. The new habitat will provide Rochan, Meri, and any offspring an expanded new habitat designed for their comfort and happiness, as well as optimal guest viewing.”
“The Zoo’s expansion and participation in the SSP is to bolster the dwindling number of animals still in the wild,” he continued. “It’s part of our Zoo’s mission, working to protect endangered species and to educate our guests about them.”
The Werth Family Foundation has repeatedly supported the Zoo through generous grants. Some of the programs they have underwritten include the Amur Leopard Exhibit, the Seasonal Country Fair Exhibit, and Zoo Educational Programs.
About Red Pandas
Red pandas (Allurus fulgens fulgens)resemble raccoons, are solitary animals, and are nocturnal by nature. Like their larger and better-known black and white cousins, Red pandas primarily eat bamboo but will occasionally eat fruits, berries, young leaves, and certain tree bark. Rochan, which means “light,” “brilliant,” and “celebrated” in Hindi, is four years old, and weighs nearly 15 pounds. Meri, a three year old, was named for Meriadoc Brandybuck, a character in J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings.
Red pandas are not true pandas, rather, they are a unique species whose name “panda” is derived from a Nepalese word, ”ponya,” meaning “eater of bamboo.” Like many in the Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo’s animal collection, the Red panda is threatened in the wild by territory loss and fragmentation, resource depletion, and are frequently hunted for their beautiful fur.
About Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo
Spend the day a world away! Connecticut's only zoo, celebrating its 96thanniversary, features 300 animals representing primarily North and South American species. Guests won't want to miss our Giant anteaters, Amur (Siberian) tigers and tiger cubs, Amur leopards, Brazilian ocelot, Red wolves, and Golden Lion tamarins. Other highlights include our South American rainforest with free-flight aviary, the prairie dog exhibit with "pop-up" viewing areas, the New England Farmyard with goats, pigs, sheep, and other barnyard critters, plus the hoofstock trail featuring bison, deer, and more. Guests can grab a bite at the Peacock Café, eat in the Picnic Grove, and enjoy a ride on our colorful carousel. For more information, visit beardsleyzoo.org.
Photo credits: Shannon Calvert