Cork's wildlife park has a baby red panda, and it wants you to name him

Wed, 17 Sep, 2014 - 15:56

Dave Molloy

The Fota Wildlife Park in Cork has a new red panda baby, and they're looking for name suggestions from members of the public - with a prize for the best one.

The unnamed cub was born to his three-year-old mother, Bonnie, in June, but has only now started to peek out from its housing unit where it was nursed.

Keepers still don't know whether it's a boy or a girl. It's the second red panda to be born at Fota in their 21 years, after Rua, the first, in 2010.

International Red Panda day is on Saturday, so to mark the occasion and the cub's emergence, the park is giving away a VIP, "behind-the-scenes" tour of the park and an annual membership to whoever comes up with the best name by Friday.

The new cub's mother, Bonnie, is three years old.

You can suggest a name by filling out the form on their blog post here.

Red pandas are small creatures - about the size of a cat - native to China and the Himalayas, with only thousands left in the wild. International Red Panda Day this Saturday aims to raise awareness and funds for their conservation.