PROJECTS
Red Panda Yard
BE PART OF THIS PROJECT!
Valley Zoo Development Society
The Valley Zoo Development Society (VZDS) is a registered charity and friend of the Edmonton Valley Zoo (EVZ). The VZDS is proud to take a lead role in the EVZ’s stunning transformation into a special place that inspires love and learning of the natural world.
Impact of Your Support
Children are fascinated by the natural world, especially by animals. By providing them with a fun setting where they can learn about animals & nature, we can create life-long ambassadors for the long-term health of our planet.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATION!
Red Panda Yard Project
Budget: $50,000
Project Start Date: October 2025
Estimated Completion: Early November 2025
The Red Panda Yard Landscape Project will bring new life and excitement to the Edmonton Valley Zoo’s outdoor red panda yard. This project will introduce fresh plantings, boulders, and naturalistic structures to recreate the pandas’ wild Himalayan environment, providing both the animals and visitors with a more immersive experience. Originally built in 2019, the outdoor yard will be updated with expanded areas and enrichment features, giving our red panda family more space to explore, play, and engage in natural behaviours.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS:
New trees, shrubs, and naturalistic plantings recreate the forested environment of the red pandas’ native home
Boulders, platforms, and enrichment features provide more opportunities for play, movement, and natural behaviours
The updated yard offers visitors a closer, more engaging view of red pandas in a habitat that reflects their life in the wild
WHY THIS PROJECT MATTERS
The Red Panda Yard Project is designed to enhance the quality of life for these charismatic arboreal animals by increasing the habitat’s complexity, creating a more dynamic and stimulating environment. By incorporating varied climbing structures, layered vegetation, and microhabitats, the yard will more closely replicate the red panda’s natural forested home. This encourages natural behaviours such as climbing, foraging, and exploring. A complex habitat supports the animals’ physical health through exercise while also providing important mental stimulation.
Grow the Red Panda Yard With Us
Looking for In-Kind Donations
To help create a space that reflects the Himalayan mountains red pandas call home, we are seeking in-kind donations of natural materials to bring texture, enrichment, and authenticity to the habitat.
We’re looking for 9 irregularly shaped logs to create natural climbing structures for our red pandas.
Ideal sizes include 60% medium (152 mm diameter) and 40% large (>203 mm diameter), providing opportunities that encourage our red pandas to explore their environment and stay active.
We’re seeking 63 limestone boulders to bring natural texture and climbing opportunities to the red panda yard.
Preferred sizes include 30% small (254–406 mm), 30% medium (406–610 mm), and 40% large (>610 mm), helping to recreate the rugged Himalayan terrain these animals love to explore.
We’re seeking healthy, new, or very well-maintained perennials to enhance the Red Panda Yard with natural vegetation.
Needed plants include:
- reed grass (x6);
- coneflower (x7);
- coral bells (x4);
- Christmas fern (x9);
- pincushion (x9);
- woolly thyme (x20)
We’re seeking healthy, new, or very well-maintained shrubs to help create a naturalistic environment for our red pandas.
Needed plants include:
- osier dogwood (x2);
- buffalo juniper (x1);
- dwarf mugo pine (x3);
- coyote willow (x6);
- Tannenbaum mugo pine (x3)
Want to help bring the Red Panda Yard to life?
If you or your company would be interested in donating boulders, logs, shrubs, or perennials, please reach out to our Director of Sponsorship & Fund Development at dzelinski@buildingourzoo.com
*In-kind donations may be eligible to receive a charitable tax receipt