INTENATIONAL RED PANDA WEEKEND AT THE UTICA ZOO

INTERNATIONAL RED PANDA WEEKEND AT THE UTICA ZOO

They're an endangered species.

Zoologists across the world are working to save them.

News channel 2's brent kearney was at the utica zoo today.

He tells us more about international red panda weekend.

It's a very special day for these adorable creatures as the utica zoo joins the world in celebrating international red panda day.

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None jim says "these are a great addition to our zoo.

Two of them are very young and the other two are the parents."

Red pandas are currently an endangered species.

Today is all about raising awareness for the animal, and learning more about them.

And there's a lot to know.

"pandas can eat about 200,000 bamboo leaves daily.

Like the giant pandas the red pandas have a giant thumb which is simply a large bone for grabbing onto bamboo stems."

And the zoo has quite the red panda fan club.

"hello my name is trent fox and my favorite animal is the red panda."

And he's got a red panda shirt to prove it.

"where did you get that shirt, my mom got it for me for my birthday.

Is it like your favorite shirt now?

Mmmhmmm" "i mean i love red pandas they're just so cute, they run around do whatever.

They're just like to cutest animal ever."

Its that attention and awareness that the zoo says will help keep this species alive.

"you can do simple things with conservation such as recycling.

There's alot of things you can do to protect these animals and being able to see these animals up close.

We offer animal encounters where you can actually feed them and get to meet them.

And each of these programs are designed for when they do come they make a connection with these animals."

"and if you would like to learn more information about the red pandas we will have a whole bunch of information on our website at wktv.com.

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