- A public service announcement video featuring actors in costumes resembling red pandas uses a poem and theatrical performance to create an emotional connection with the audience, rather than preaching at them.
- Red pandas, found in Nepal, India, Bhutan, and China, are endangered by habitat loss, poaching and accidental snaring.
- The PSA highlights the interconnectedness of human survival and red panda conservation, aiming to foster a deeper understanding and lasting impact on younger generations, the producers say.
KATHMANDU — During the COVID-19 lockdown in Nepal, red panda conservation campaigner and researcher Sonam Tashi Lama came across a public service announcement on African rhinos, featuring action superstar Jackie Chan.
“I was blown away by the concept and the performance,” Lama said. It got him wondering whether a similar PSA could be produced by Nepali artists, depicting Nepali culture, to save the red panda (Ailurus fulgens), an endangered species. He approached actor and filmmaker Dayahang Rai, who had recently been appointed a conservation ambassador for the red panda.
“We didn’t have access to the technology used in the Jackie Chan video, but we had good actors and good concepts that we could make use of,” Lama, a recipient of the prestigious Whitley Award in 2022, told Mongabay. Rai was busy with numerous other projects at the time, but was sold on the concept. “He instantly agreed to the idea,” Lama said.
Red pandas, found in India, Nepal, Bhutan and China, face threats ranging from habitat loss to illegal trapping and poaching, to accidental snaring in traps set for other animals. The species is categorized as endangered on the IUCN Red List and is included in Appendix I of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, making its trade illegal. It’s estimated that of the fewer than 15,000 individuals that remain in the wild, around 500 roam in Nepal’s hills, where they thrive in bamboo forests.
Research shows that poachers continue to kill the animal for its pelt even as there’s no market for it. Conservationists attribute this to a lack of awareness and understanding among community members, and have called for campaigns to address the issue.
That’s where the new PSA comes in. “It is different from other PSAs as it doesn’t tell or order the audience to stop the trade or don’t kill the red pandas,” Rai said. Conventional PSAs, commonly seen on Nepali TV, wouldn’t serve the purpose as people feel pressured into doing things that they wouldn’t otherwise do, he said.
So that’s why the red panda PSA took a different route. Through a poem serving as narration, it uses a theatrical performance to suggest to the audience that human beings can survive only if red pandas survive. “If more and more animals go extinct, the turn of humans will come very soon,” Rai said. “We want people to internalize this by facilitating an emotional connection with red pandas.”
The PSA was made public on May 24 on the Red Panda Network’s YouTube channel. “My view is that the people of the new generation will understand the deep message of the PSA and it will have a lasting impact on them,” Lama said.
The video, funded by Lama’s prize money from the Whitley Award, shows actors decked out in black-and-red costumes, a nod to the color of both the red panda’s fur and a traditional Nepali dress worn by one of the country’s many ethnic groups. In the video, the actors mimic red pandas facing various challenges, including hunting.
“It wasn’t easy to come up with a costume that would do justice to the image of the red panda as well as allow complicated dance movements,” said Bibek Katwal, who designed the costumes for the video, which took around 24 hours to shoot. “As no one has done such work before, we didn’t have any examples to take reference from,” he added
Recent research has also shown that building of unplanned roads is fragmenting the habitats of these solitary yet territorial animals, and it is getting increasingly difficult for sub-adults to find new habitats during dispersal.
“The video is a commendable effort to emotionally connect local communities with red panda conservation,” said conservationist Sanjan Thapa, who wasn’t involved in the project. He added that the performance helps deliver the message of conservation in a subtle way. “However, I would have liked to see the important issue of forest fires get incorporated into the video,” he added. This is the first time an animal has been portrayed in such a way, he said, and the hope is that more such productions will materialize in the future.
Banner Image: An actor dresses up as a red panda for a PSA on saving the animals from extinction. Image courtesy of Red Panda Network
Abhaya Raj Joshi is a staff writer for Nepal at Mongabay. Find him on 𝕏 @arj272.
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Taking up the cause of red pandas: Q&A with actor and activist Dayahang Rai
