Page 8
August 5, 2020
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
Health Check for Zoo’s Red Panda
It’s huckleberry season with free permits for personal use now available from the
Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southwest Washington.
Picking Wild Huckleberries
Gifford Pinchot
offers free permits
As summer reaches its peak, many like
to venture into the National Forests where
huckleberries offer a delicious harvest for
your home table.
The Gifford Pinchot National Forest
east of Vancouver began offering free-use
huckleberry picking permits for personal
consumption on Saturday, allowing up to
one gallon of berries per day and a total
of three gallons per year from designated
picking areas.
Berries obtained under a free-use per-
mit may not be sold. To apply, visit the
free permit site apps.fs.usda.gov/gp.
Commercial charge berry permits will be
available to purchase in-person on Aug.
10 at ranger district offices and the Mount
St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
Headquarters.
You are asked to follow social distanc-
ing guidelines issued by the Centers for
Disease Control by wearing a mask when
entering a Forest Service facility and
maintaining a six feet minimum distance
from others. If you are feeling sick, stay
home and remember to keep hands clean.
Veterinarians and ani-
mal-care staff conducted
their first examination of
Mei Mei’s 6-week-old red
panda cub at the Oregon
Zoo Monday, and answered
a question that’s been on a
lot of people’s minds: It’s a
boy!
Mei Mei, a 4-year-old
red panda at the Oregon
Zoo, gave birth to her cub
on June 18. Since then, an-
imal-care staff have been
taking a hands-off ap-
proach, giving the mom and
newborn as much privacy
as possible in a behind-the-
scenes maternity den.
Photo by M iChael d urhaM , Courtesy of the o regon Z oo .
“Mei Mei has been a
A newborn red panda cub had his first veterinary exam
terrific mom so far, and her
Monday at the Oregon Zoo.
boy appears to be in great
health,” said animal curator Amy Cutting, gered species, with populations declin-
who oversees the zoo’s red panda area. ing by about 50% in the past 20 years.
“We’ll still be taking a mostly hands-off While exact numbers are uncertain, some
approach, and let the cub gradually get estimates indicate as few as 2,500 may
used to our care staff. It will be another be left in the wild. In addition to habitat
month or so before he ventures out of the loss and fragmentation, red pandas also
den box on his own.”
face threats from poaching and the illegal
Red pandas are considered an endan- wildlife trade.