Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, Zoo Boise and City staff held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday for the new red panda exhibit, named after Virginia R. Bartak.
Director of Zoo Boise, Gene Peacock, said Bartak who lived in Caldwell and loved animals, enjoyed the improvements the zoo was making.
"And when she passed away, she gave us a gift to make this exhibit possible."
The new enclosure has three outdoor sections, all measuring over 1,000 sq ft, and overhead chutes to connect them.
"The exhibit is designed so we can move pandas all the way around the exhibit, and they never cross paths," said Peacock. "And we also wanted the exhibit so people could pass underneath and kind of immerse themselves in it."
The zoo has doubled its red panda population by bringing in the two new residents. Both were seen exploring their new enclosure during the ceremony, eating a bamboo breakfast.
Long-term red panda residents Stevie and Jasper now live across the way from their new neighbors.
Nikki Boyd, a founding member of the Red Panda Network, an organization that does conservation work primarily in Nepal, said her organization received close to $150,000 in donations from Zoo Boise. These funds have gone to projects like forest restoration in Nepal.
"We do community-based conservation work, so we create sustainable livelihoods for a lot of the local people. And we do things like ecotourism, which gives them a reason to want to save the animals and the habitats in Nepal."
Mayor McLean shared her belief on Zoo Boise's value, "It's tiny, but it's mighty."
She continued, saying, "With every person that comes in here. We're making a difference in terms of conservation around the world. Even here in Boise and around the country."
A new gift store and exit route were created alongside the red pandas’ apartments. These projects are a part of the master plan the zoo has.
Next on the list, the Small Animal Kingdom will continue construction and is projected to be available for the public to explore this fall.
