New Red Panda To Join Lake Superior Zoo

DULUTH, Minn. — The Lake Superior Zoo is preparing to welcome a new animal to the Northland.

A brand-new Red Panda named Pip will be joining Zoozee, the 2-year-old Red Panda that came to the Zoo last year. Pip flew in from the New Bedford Zoo a couple days ago and is currently at the Zoo’s animal care center. The new animal will stay in what they call quarantine getting checked up for about a month.

A lot goes in to making sure the Red Pandas would live well together.

“When they come up with these pairings of being able to have two females together, they’re gonna look at the age, they’re gonna look at when during the season were they born, you know did they have any issues with their brothers or sisters. And so, then that’s how they figure out where should that Red Panda go, that would be the most successful and make the other Red Pandas the most successful possible. And that’s how they came up with that Pip should come here and be best friends with Zoozee,” said Lizzy Larson, Director of Animal Management at the Zoo.

The Zoo hopes to eventually get a male Red Panda to breed with the two females. That is part of a species survival plan to further the mission of making sure those animals stay out in the wild as long as possible.