Assessment of illegal trade-related threats to Red Panda in India and selected neighbouring range countries
Over a ten-year period from July 2010 to June 2019 the authors found neither India nor Bhutan had reported any incidences of poaching or illegal trade in Red Pandas, but in Nepal a total of 13 seizure records were reported between 2016 and 2019, accounting for a total of 29 pelts. All except two took place in Kathmandu. Consultations with experts revealed a similar low-level incidence of Red Panda trade in Bhutan and India with one case of accidental trapping of a Red Panda in a snare in Jigme Dorjee National Park from Bhutan and six incidents of poaching accounting for six individual animals in India, aside from a 1999 case involving more than 20 pelts. By contrast, in Nepal, experts there shared knowledge about 25 incidences of Red Panda poaching, involving approximately 55 animals and also claimed to have witnessed and/or have confirmed reports related to poaching on six occasions involving 15 animals.
