For the first time, a conservation-breeding program of a zoo in India is shortlisted as a finalist for the 2024 Conservation & Environmental Sustainability Awards, by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).
It is for the Red Panda Conservation Breeding and Augmentation Programme of the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park.
The breeding programme began with four red pandas from the wild taken into the Darjeeling Zoo in 1990.